Texas Tornado
by TheRoseOfGryffindor
Summary: The story centers around a Hazzard native, Scarlett, who moved away during high school but comes back, running from heartbreak in the Lone Star State. But coming home might awaken unwanted feelings. 'If you want to listen to the songs that all the chapters are named after see this playlist: / /open./user/whogoesyowzah/playlist/4wMbpZlADvl0cOh6H4LqKx (remove space between /s )
1. All of a Sudden

It was a late Sunday afternoon. Hazzard County was in bloom, flowers growing all around and the trees in bloom. If there was a snapshot of what nature looked like decked out for a sweetheart, it was late April. Bo stood out in the yard, throwing a football with his cousin.

"Bo" Uncle Jesse shouted from the porch.

"What is it Uncle Jesse?" he asked as he caught the football and walked over to the porch.

"You've got a girl on the telephone for ya" he said trying to hide his own personal smile. Of the dozens of sweethearts, lovers, and flings Bo Duke had been through, there were a few choice canidates that Jesse kept in mind as girls that might one day convince Bo to settle down. The girl on the line had been one of those for a while.

"Hello" Bo said in his soft voice reserved for romantic interests.

"Hey Bo" came a high Texan accent mixed with a southern drawl. Bo paused.

"Scarlett?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sure is, say, Uncle Jesse already said you and Luke would be willin' but I wanted to ask you personally. Can you do me a favor?"

Swift images of a sweet blonde girl of sixteen who he'd loved for a whole summer danced through his head.

"Sure, anything you need."

"Can you pick me up from the Atlanta airport this Saturday?" she asked. "I know it's kinda short notice."

"Say no more Scarlett Jean Summers, we'll be there. What time do you land?"

"Five in the afternoon, and I can't thank you enough Bo" she exclaimed.

"But I thought you were living in Texas? you just coming back for a visit?" Bo asked.

"No" she said softly. Last Bo had heard of Scarlett was that she was going Texas A&M after moving out with her dad when her mother died. He had heard rumors of her being engaged or something from her grandma who lived on the edge of town and helped her son run the general store. And that was about two years back. "I wanted to spend the summer with grandma, I might be coming back for good" she hinted "I love Texas, but Hazzard is home."

"Well I can't wait to see you" he said his voice going up a bit in pitch.

"Thanks again Bo, you're the best" she said happily.

"Wouldn't be the first time you said that" Bo teased.

"Hush Bo Duke!" she chided laughing as she remembered a tall skinny boy running through April flowers with her and going swimming all summer.

"Who was that?" Luke asked casually as Bo came back out into the yard.

"Scarlett Summers" he said laughing.

"Your Summer Girl Scarlett Summers?" Luke asked incredulously. "I thought she was in Texas getting married to some oil baron's son or something" he said.

"I thought so too, but it would seem her g'ma was misinformed, she's coming back to Hazzard" Bo said smiling. It's not that he wanted to rekindle things with an old flame, not that he didn't at least have a passing notion of doing so, but he had missed her. He'd thought of her as the one that got away for a while after she had moved away.

That Saturday Luke stuck his head in at the door of his and Bo's room, finding his cousin caught between which shirt to wear.

"Hey Daisy! Bo is having an identity crisis again, will you come pick the peacock out a shirt" Luke shouted down the hall to Daisy. She put her head in at the door.

"Go with blue Bo" she shouted before disappearing "how many times do I have to say, go with blue, it brings out your eyes."

"But I don't wanna look like I'm trying to impress her" Bo protested.

"Well you are aren't you?" Luke teased.

"That's not the point Luke" he said flustered, putting on his red plaid shirt over a black one. He wouldn't be conned into thinking he was trying to make a play for Scarlett Summers, he wasn't. He was just picking up an old flame and good friend from an airport. Nothing more. No expectations. For all he knew, she was still engaged to the bigwheel from Texas. Or she had outgrown simple country boys while off in Texas. She probably liked cowboys wrapped in dark blue Wranglers now with boots with silver spurs on them. Anyway, he was just happy to see her again. That was it. Now which belt was he going to where he puzzled over. The big buckled one, yeah, of course. Texans like their belt buckles big, he'd go with that one.


	2. By the Light of a Burning Bridge

Despite the fact that General Lee was running in top condition the drive to Atlanta still felt like time was eeking by. They parked and went out to meet her as her plane landed. Leaning against the wall they watched as her flight disembarked, trying to spot a girl after six years absence. A girl, who the last time they'd seen her had been running around in overalls and pigtails on summer days and the longer skirts her grandma and mama had enforced on her during school days.

"Bo" came a voice from under a big sunhat and with eyes behind sunglasses "Luke!" she smiled taking her shades off and looking at the two of them with those light crystalline eyes of hers.

"Scarlett!" Bo exclaimed with his cousin. "I'd hardly have known you" he said in surprise. He saw her face drop at that. Just because she was wrapped in a nice fitted peach colored dress with a fancy hat and sunglasses that cost a pretty penny, didn't make her that much different than the simple country girl who had left Hazzard half a dozen years back. After all it hadn't been her money that had bought this stuff.

Bo noticed her face drop "I meant that you look twice as good as you did when you left. I couldn't believe my eyes" he said, trying to get that smile back on her face.

She smiled, not that she believed a word he said, but because Bo was trying to make her smile, and she was pretty good at fake smiles by this point.

"Say, where's your stuff?" Luke asked.

"There" she said pointing to the attendant who rolled up with four pieces of matching American Tourister baggage. "I brought just about everything, and daddy is supposed to bring the rest when he brings out my car. If I decide to stay of course" she added. Though she didn't see how she could go back.

"So, how is your dad doing?" Luke asked trying to make small talk as they walked to the car.

"He's good. He married again" she said softly, trying not to sound like it was a big deal.

"She nice, your stepmom?" Bo asked, he wanted to make sure Scarlett had been happy while she was gone. He had a growing feeling she hadn't been, maybe the new woman of the house was the reason why.

"She's fine, her kids can be a bit much. She's pretty rich so they think I'm just some hayseed redneck who is lucky to know how to spell sophisticated after growing up so backward" she said trying to laugh it off.

"Now that ain' true, you were the smartest girl I went to school with" Bo protested.

She smiled "glad someone thinks I'm smart."

"So what did you end up getting a degree in?" Luke asked.

"Drama and Theater, with a minor in poetry. Yeah, all sorts of career fields out there" she said sarcastically.

"Well Hazzard doesn't have a drama class, maybe you could teach?" Bo suggested.

"Maybe. We'll see. I may just be here for the summer, remember?"

"Well a lot can happen in one summer" he said smiling down at her, they both smiled thinking about their memories of a hot Georgia summer being drunk on love and sunshine.

Luke opened the trunk on the General.

"This your car?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you like it?" Bo asked.

"It's you, down to the wheels it's so you" she said laughing.

"What do you mean?"

"Flashy, fast, not the most reliable make, but easy on the eyes, though orange isn't my favorite color in the world, and it just looks like fun" she said smiling, Bo laughed, she laughed to as she was reaching for the door handle.

"You gotta climb in" Luke said from the other side "it's a racing car."

"I'll help you" Bo offered, picking her up and putting her legs in through the window and helping her ease down into her seat.

"Thanks Bo" she said politely.

He climbed in after her and they set off back for Hazzard.

Scarlett took off her big hat and her strawberry blonde curls fell out from under it in a well groomed but curly mess. And for the first time in a long time, she didn't even bother looking in a mirror. She could finally stop pretending and trying to impress people and just be herself.

"So how's Daisy?" she asked as they drove through the Atlanta traffic.

"She's doing good."

"Enos still head over heels for her?"

"Yeah, poor guy, he went and joined the police of Hazzard County, but yeah, he's still got his heart set on waiting for Daisy even if it takes her until he's a hundred to get a date."

"What's wrong with the Hazzard police?" she asked.

"Nothing, except Rosco P Coltrane."

"What'd Rosco do? he was always a decent law officer when I was still living in Hazzard."

"He didn't get his pension and he turned dirty. He pretty much works for Boss now" Luke provided.

"And gives us hell at any and every turn" Bo added.

"But that may be due to the fact that we've been fighting him and his corruption since I got back from the marines" Luke explained.

"Just maybe" she said laughing. "I've missed y'all, more than I realized. Life in the big cities isn't what it's cracked up to be. You tried to cross the law in Dallas they're not going to let you get away with it, and they're just as corrupt as Boss Hogg. You'll end up dead in the street. Not galavanting off to Atlanta to pick up pretty girls" she said joking about herself.

"Well why do you think we never left" Bo said.

"For once in your life Bo Duke, you just might have been smarter than me" she said laughing though in her eyes there was sadness. A sadness Bo noticed but pretended not to, but that he still, nonetheless, wanted to do everything in his power to fix. He laughed with her, not letting his concern show.

An hour later they were south of Macon and getting near Hazzard. Savannah eagerly leaned forward, taking in the scenery and feasting her eyes on the long missed sites of her hometown's surrounding area. Bo and Luke both smiled. It was clear she had been homesick for Hazzard.

As they passed the sign declaring entrance to Hazzard County Savannah let out a loud "YEE-HOO" and then laughed. "Do you still do that silly yell Bo?" she asked.

"Does he ever stop?" Luke said sarcastically, laughing.

"You do it too" Bo retorted.

"Whenever I did that around my city friends they all looked at me like I was some backward bumpkin. I didn't care, it made me think of home... I mean Hazzard" she corrected herself.

"Well welcome back to your old home sweetheart" Luke said softly.

"Yeah, I sure am glad you came back" Bo added with warmth.

"Me too. I think" she said a cloud of doubt darkening her pretty face.

"Hey, whatever happened back in Texas you can just leave it behind you like the dust on your boots. Don't worry about it" Bo advised.

"I wish it were that simple" she said "But it's really nothing" she said dismissively and Bo reluctantly dropped it. He had all summer to find out what she was troubling her pretty little head over.


	3. Reckless

Scarlett thanked the boys and waved as they dropped her off at her grandma's house.

"Is that my little grandbaby?" her Nana said coming out into the yard.

"It's me Nana" she said rushing to her grandmother and letting herself be folded in a hug.

"You got all the sense of a squirrel, girl, standing out in the heat, come inside, come inside. Jonah!" she shouted to her son. "Jonah! get your nieces stuff out of the yard" she said squawking the word out in her old and fragile but loud voice.

She came inside and sure enough, sitting out on the table was her grandma's ambrosia, with sweet potato pie and green bean caserole for supper.

"You remembered?" she said in disbelief.

"Of course, I may be losing a few things up here" she said tapping her head "but a nana don' ever forget her kid's favorite meal. Besides, it's awful hard to whenn you had to hear a girl begging for it every weekend for sixteen years" she laughed and Scarlett joined in. Not fully though. She was tired, and heartfelt laughter came hard for her these days. She'd nearly been suffocated by city life. Superficial laughter and small talk and drunken parties had been the norm in her life for years by this point. She wondered if she could truly go back to the simple country lifestyle she'd known in her teens.

After supper Scarlett went up to the spare room in the loft and started setting out her stuff. There was a knock on the door downstairs.

"Hey Daisy" came the soft shy voice of Scarlett's Uncle Jonah.

"Bo and Luke told me Scarlett was back in town, I just wanted to say hi."

"Yeah, she's upstairs, getting unpacked."

Light footsteps in high heels were heard on the stairs and the sound of Scarlett's grandmother's voice quietly fussing about the way Daisy went around dressed like a tramp when she was such a nice girl.

"Hey" came Daisy's sweet voice at the door.

"Daisy!" Scarlett said happily, hugging her old schoolmate.

"The boys told me you had come back to Hazzard" Daisy said smiling.

"Yeah, well for the summer at least" Scarlett said, still not wanting things to sound permanent.

"Your nana had said you were engaged a couple years back, did you get married? will your fiance be visitin'?" she asked wanting to catch up with her friend.

A varied range of emotions flashed across Scarlett's face. Everything from anger to fear made its appearance.

"No" she said flatly. "There is no fiance" she added, not wanting to say more.

"I'm sorry" Daisy said apologetically, she could tell it wasn't something Scarlett wanted to talk about. "Well we still live out at the farm, so any time you want to drive out and see us, you're more than welcome" She added.

Scarlett smiled "Thanks Daisy, and I'm sorry I'm not better company right now, I'm very tired from the flight" she said. It was half true.

"I can only imagine" she said preparing to leave.

"Hey Daisy" Scarlett said "Does Cooter Davenport still occasionally sell some old cars, because I know Ace is crooked, and I don't have any wheels at the moment."

"He does, but I got a better idea, my old Plymouth is just sitting in the yard collecting dust, and the boys have a few cars they don't really drive anymore, we can fix you up. I'll have the boys drive one out for you in the next couple days. A girl needs her wheels. It's her independence in this country" Daisy said smiling again.

"You're too good Daisy, you don't have to, I can find one to buy" Scarlett felt Daisy's index finger press down on her lips.

"Hush! I will hear no such thing. Call it a coming home present, it's the least we can do" she said kindly but firmly.

"If you insist" Scarlett conceded.

"I do, and what's more, so will Bo, Luke and Uncle Jesse" she said chuckling.

"Alright, you convinced me" she said in resignation.

"Good. Get some rest" Daisy advised before giving her friend a hug and disappearing out the door.

Scarlett smiled. Good country folk, their generosity was astonishing.

Three days later Scarlett heard the sound of a well-tuned engine pulling up into the yard while she lay upstairs in her bed reading. Staying out of the heat. She looked out her window and saw Bo Duke getting out of a car that wasn't the General Lee. She raced downstairs, getting the door right after he knocked.

"Hey Bo" she said smiling.

"Hey there, I brought you your car" he said handing her the keys.

"That's for me?" she asked in astonishment. It was a 1976 Nova that while it had once been white the paint job was chipped and damaged, but still she had heard the engine from up in her room, and it sounded like dream.

"Sure is sunshine" he said smiling down at her.

She stood there in shock for a second and then a grin got up on her face.

"I can't wait to drive it" she said "wanna come with?"

"I thought you'd never ask" he teased.

"Nana and Uncle Jonah are down at the store, I should leave them a note" she said grabbing the back of an old envelope and looking around for a pen.

"Here" Bo said handing her one from his chest pocket.

She nodded her thanks and jotted down a note, leaving out the fact that she was driving with Bo Duke in shotgun, and just saying he had brought her a car and she was taking it for a spin.

Bo got in the passengers seat as she came out with her purse.

"Sorry the paint job is so bad" he said. "Cooter and I worked on the engine a bit, and made sure the breaks and steering were all good, just didn't get to painting it."

She shook her head smiling "Bo, it's more than I could have hoped for. I really am so grateful" she said looking over at him.

Bo felt his stomach do an odd turn at the sight of her smile on him. He smiled back but he always saw the sadness in her blue eyes, and he wanted to fix it, wanted to find out what Texas had done to her and to fix her up like a car or a broken board on the front porch.

"Besides" she said starting up the car "You got me the car, the least I can do is pay for Cooter to paint it for me" she backed out and started down the road out of town. She headed down the highway, trying to remember old backroads that Bo had taken her down, and where old friends had lived and old hideaways and hangouts. "I don't remember how to get anywhere" she complained as she drove past the turnoff for an old backroad.

"Where were you trying to go?"

"Somewhere with a good view, one without a power pole or anything made with human hands in sight. I've been up in the city way too long, and I need some country air" she said. She felt stifled, even in the small county seat of Hazzard. She just needed to see nothing for a minute, so she could see everything.

"Turn here" Bo said reaching over and putting his hand on top of hers as he turned the wheel for her so she wouldn't miss the road.

She drove down for a while, getting deeper into the backwoods as the road became rougher and rougher and then stopped alltogether.

"This is what I'm talkin' 'bout" she said exultantly, getting out of the car and shutting the door. She walked on a little further down the hill from where the road had ended. Bo just watched her go, feeling she wanted some space. He popped the hood open and looked under the hood, tweeking things here and there. After a while he looked around.

"Scarlett?" he shouted from the hilltop by the car. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I found a little creek down here, and there are crawdads swimmin' in it" she said "I'm learning that I can't catch them like I used to" she added laughing.

A few minutes later she was back at the top of the hill, wet up to her waist from being in the creek. Bo looked up from working under the hood and laughed.

"Shut up" she said and then proudly held out a crawfish she had caught and then stuck it on his arm.

"Ow!" he complained as the creatures pincers fastened on his forearm.

Scarlett laughed. Bo shook his head and then held crawfish where it couldn't bite him and proceded to chase Scarlett with it. They ran all around the car and then went skidding down an embankment. Scarlett collapsed on the ground laughing so hard that her sides hurt. Bo tossed the crawdad aside and sat down next to her, laughing so hard his blond hair shook.

"I can't tell you the last time I've had that much fun" she said leaning back against the dirt embankment.

"Wow, I thought Texas would be more adventurous than Hazzard, not less."

"Oh, it's not Texas, not all of it anyway. My time at A&M was great, I wouldn't have traded it for all the crawdads in the world, but around the time daddy remarried, that's when fun started to become scarce. I got involved with my step-siblings friends, and ended up spending a lot of time in the city. Trying to find work and when that failed, trying to find fun to fill the time" she said sighing, and the mirth fading out of her eyes.

"Hey" he said putting an arm around her shoulders "you don't have to tell me what happened, but I do wish you would" his words were simply put but sincere.

"And I will... one day Bo. But it's a little too soon, I haven't even decided how I feel about the things that happened, or what I'm going to do next, but when I am ready, I will tell you, at least a summary, of what happened" she said getting to her feet and dusting off her shirt and shorts.

Bo shrugged and picked the leaves off her back.

"Thanks" she said "for everything really" she added with warmth. He had made her laugh, down to her belly, laugh, and he'd treated her like a human being. Something no guy had done in a long time. Not to mention getting her a car to drive.

He looked at her thoughtfully as they got back in the car. She was so full of secrets, and painful ones too from how she reacted to questions about her time in Texas. He hoped that she would find a way to open up to him about them. He wanted to help her get back her old smile and mirth-filled ways. She had put a crawdad on him, that was a good start. She wasn't all formal and hurting as she had been at the airport. Maybe she would get over whatever had happened sooner than she thought.

Five days after first driving the Nova out with Bo, it rolled out of Cooter's garage in a deep red with an outline of the state of Texas painted on the left rear side just back from the gas tank, painted in red white and blue and a bluebonnet bloom painted on the other side.

"That is one nice looking paint job" Luke praised as Scarlett drove it out of the garage.

"I'm very proud. I now have the prettiest car in Hazzard, but don't let Boss or Lulu hear that" she said chuckling. She was proud of her dark red Nova.

"If the General Lee is me to a T then this car is sure you" Bo commented before getting in the passenger seat as Daisy squeezed in the middle and Luke got in the General then they all drove out to the Boar's Nest to celebrate and get out of the heat.


	4. Trouble Knows My Name

Days passed and April slipped into May. Gardens began to grow up and put on fruit. Scarlett really enjoyed working in her Nana's garden, she could be found there most evenings, weeding, putting mulch down, squashing bugs, anything to help maintain the garden and to be down in the dirt. Bo had seen her around town and they had all went to dinner out at the farm or at the Boar's Nest about half a dozen times, but he hadn't had much chance to talk to just her for a bit.

He pulled up in the General outside her grandma's house and climbed out striding up to the fence and leaning his arms on it as he looked at her working in the garden.

"Hey Scarlett" he said smiling from under his hat.

"Hey Bo" she said standing to her feet, mud all down the raggedy shirt she had clearly borrowed from her uncle seeing as it was far to large for her.

He looked at her and just laughed. She looked down and laughed too.

"Well, you're looking quite the ragamuffin" he said still chuckling.

"Hush" she chided.

"I was wondering if you wanted to get out of your garden Mary-Mary maybe go dancing?"

"That sounds fun, but I hardly think you'd want to dance with me in this state."

"I wouldn't mind but I wouldn't want too many people staring at my girl" he said laughing. The my girl part had been jest and a reference to their past and nothing more and both knew it.

"Alright Romeo" she said shaking her head, "come 'round eight and I'll try to be less distracting than I currently am" she said sassily.

"You're never going to stop being a distraction" he said complimenting her before getting the garden gate for her.

"Well at the least I can make myself distracting for the right reasons" she said grinning.

An hour and a half later Bo pulled up and knocked on the door. Her grandmother answered.

"Good evening Bo" she said smiling to herself "now what could possibly be bringing you here at such an hour?" she teased. "She's upstairs getting ready still" she added before he could even answer. "And thank you, she spends far too much time surrounded by us two old crows, she should be out with young folk" her grandma said sagely. Bo was just glad her grandma wasn't against him taking Scarlett out for the evening.

Scarlett heard Bo enter downstairs and looked herself over in the mirror again. She looked beautiful, she would acknowledge that much, but she didn't feel it. She hadn't felt it in a while. She knew all the tricks, tips, products and styles that made her look good, but she still didn't feel it. She came downstairs in a pink skirt and white blouse that hugged her top nicely. Her grandma narrowed her eyes a bit.

"You ain' planning on wearing that out are you?" she said working up to a regular storm.

"Yes I am Nana" she said softly.

"Not under my roof" she scolded about to unleash a tirade about going around half naked.

"That's why I am going out from under your roof right now. Run for it Bo!" she said grabbing his hand and they rushed out of the house, her Nana scolding from the door as she slid into the General Lee and Bo started it up. Laughing, feeling just like a kid she settled into her seat.

"That was great" she said catching her breath. Bo nodded laughing along with her. "You should hear all the things she says about how Daisy dresses."

"I can only imagine" Bo said his eyes widening at the thought of her grandma going off about Daisy's short shorts and tight tops. "I even wish Daisy would cover up a little more sometimes, but I guess it's really me and Luke and Jesse's fault. We're guys, we couldn't exactly give her modesty talks when we run around without shirts on half the time."

"I remember" she said. Recalling trips out to the Duke's homestead and the boys running around like Tom and Huck in nothing but jeans.

"Yeah, your mama used to pull up in the yard and you two would get out and you'd try and act like you weren't staring" Bo teased.

"I was staring because I couldn't believe the ridiculous things y'all would do" she lied.

"Sure" Bo said shaking his head chuckling.

In no time at all they had pulled up outside the Boar's Nest. Bo came around the other side and helped her as she climbed out. Her skirt had rolled up a bit getting out and she hastily pulled it down.

"Me in the General can have that effect" Bo said just to give her hell.

"Shut up Beauregard" she said lightly slapping his arm. "I can see you're no less annoying than you were six years ago" she said smiling as they walked in.

"I try never to grow up" he said laughing softly.

"Well I'd say you succeeded, not that I mind, something that hasn't changed is a welcome thing in my life" she said a little sadly.

"Hey, none of that, you're having fun tonight. Whether you like it or not. Daisy a beer and whatever Scarlett wants" he said turning to Scarlett.

"Coke and Bourbon" she said simply. It had been her favorite drink all her life.

"That's my girl" he said chuckling as he helped her into a chair. In no time at all she was surrounded by curious locals who hadn't seen her but had heard she was back in town. More than half of which were male and under thirty. She kept her answers short and courteous, silently wishing Bo would hurry up with their drinks and rescue her from this throng. She had wanted time with just him or at least just close friends, not half the town.

Bo came back with their drinks and saw how uncomfortable Scarlett looked, and the pleading look in her eyes.

"Come on y'all, scatter" Bo said in the voice he usually used when telling other guys to back off his girl. They grumbled, and some stuck around. After finishing his beer he looked around and saw Ernie coming over, staring at Scarlett.

"Hey, let's go outside?" Bo said, his eyes shifting towards Ernie and right back to Scarlett to let her know why they were calling their night out short.

She smiled and didn't protest when Bo put his arm around her waist and bent down like he was cozily sweet talking her out of the bar. Ernie looked vaguely annoyed but didn't follow. As soon as they got outside Scarlett sighed in relief.

"Lord! he's as much of a creep as he was in Middle and High School" she said shuddering walking a few paces out into the parking lot.

"I'm sorry" Bo apologized "I was going to take you out for a fun night of dancing, I should have figured on the swarm that would come. I'm sorry" he said again.

"It's not your fault" she said gently touching his face "and we can still have a fun night of dancing. You do have a radio in the General" she stated pointing to the car.

He grinned "So?... dancing here, or dancing somewhere else?" he asked.

"Well seeing as you in the General have that reputation you were telling me about earlier, I think I'll opt for a public place, here, or anywhere."

He chuckled and went over to where the General was parked, turning the key and flipping on the radio. He scanned through channels, they were all country, until he found a nice dancing song. Then he walked up to Scarlett and took her hands in his, whirling and twirling her and leading her in nice medium tempoed dance.

"I hope they play a fast song next, I wanna see how good of a dancer you've grown to be" she said smiling "so far I'm impressed."

"Well, it's like I tell my younger cousins that are in high school still... if you wanna impress the ladies, learn how to dance well."

"Sound advice" she said as he spun her back in, dipping her over his knee as the song ended.

"And I thought only the boys in Texas knew how to dance half so well, I could have been in my hometown dancing with you" she said smiling.

"I wish you had stayed" he said softly while the DJ made some local announcements. "I missed you for quite a while, you were 'the one that got away' for me" he said a bit bashfully.

"And you were my country boy Romeo, who everyone tried to convince me was too simple for my taste, or wouldn't ever stick with me, but still, you always stayed in my top 3 of best guys I ever dated" she said laughing softly.

"I was wondering..." Bo said but found her finger on his lips.

"Shh. Don't Bo. Not now, yes we were happy once, and I don't wanna scar those memories with trying to make something work because we were once young and in love. After Texas I'm not ready to give my heart away again so easily" she said sweetly. "Not to use an overused phrase, but it's not you, it's me, and until I find out who I am again I am unfit to be with anyone, not without making a mess of it, and I wouldn't want to do that to my sweet country boy" she said gently touching his cheek with her palm.

He smiled a bit, just to let her know that he understood, not that he really did. But he did respect her choice to say no, though that no had had the sound of a maybe to it.

"It's fine, you're a great girl, and a guy like me would probably make a mess of it too I may have a reputation for having a lot of relationships, just not for any longterm ones. I think you and me that summer was the longest I've stuck with the same girl" he said and sweetly kissed her hand before leading her into a dance to the song that had just come on.

They danced out in the parking lot, turning up his stereo on fast paced songs and madly whirling around the parking lot doing all sorts of fancy footwork and intricate spins. They laughed and joked and lost all track of time just enjoying each other's company and the music.

They looked up after a particularly dizzying fast dance and found a crowd had gathered around them watching and was applauding. They bowed dramatically and laughed, Luke handed his cousin what was left of his beer.

"Thanks Luke" he said taking a swig and handing it back. "I better not have too much, gotta get Scarlett here home safe" he said turning to her. "You ready?" he asked.

"Sure" she said sliding around the car and in through the window, stealing Luke's signature move, which Luke applauded. He dropped her off at her house, watching her to make sure she got inside safely, but not walking her to her door, if he had he wouldn't have been able to resist the temptation of trying for a goodnight kiss, and he knew this, so he just waved as she disappeared inside.


	5. I'm Wearing Black

Scarlett was watching the store while her uncle went to lunch when Luke Duke walked in.

"Hey there sunshine" he said smiling and coming up to the counter. "How have you been?"

"Good" she said, it was true.

"Say, Daisy has off tonight, if you want to I can tell her to drop by, she wants to hang out with you soon she's been saying."

"That sounds great!" Scarlett exclaimed eagerly.

"Alright" he said with a broad smile "I'll tell her to come around seven?"

"Sounds great, but six would be better, we have supper at six, and while Nana may not approve of how Daisy dresses she'd be twice as offended if she came and didn't eat something" Scarlett said laughing.

"I'll believe that" Luke said grinning and after buying a pound of nails and a five pound bag of sugar he left.

That evening, after telling her nana that Daisy was coming there was a knock on the door around a quarter to six. Scarlett answered and it was Daisy.

"Hey sunshine" Daisy said giving her friend a hug. "I brought some fried okra Mrs Amthor" she said handing a basket to Scarlett's grandma.

"Thank you" her grandma said kindly, trying not to say anything about how Daisy was dressed. It was an improvement from her usual wear, even if it wasn't quite what she considered proper dress for a grown woman to be wearing. "This your uncle's fried okra?" she asked smiling.

"It is, finest in Hazzard county" Daisy bragged as she and Scarlett walked over.

"And don't I know it" she said smiling. "Do they feed you is the question though?" she asked poking Daisy's ribs "You're skin and bones girl, it ain't healthy" she said half serious and half teasing.

They all ate a good meal together, Uncle Jonah offered to clean up afterwards so Scarlett could have more time with Daisy. And so the two of them went up to her room and sat on the bed.

"So how are you? I mean really, like settling back into Hazzard and all that, everything going good?"

"Yeah, it's a switch that will take a little getting used to" she said softly.

"You planning on staying then?" Daisy asked.

"I don't know" Scarlett said after a pause. "I mean I can't go back but I'm afraid everything I'm running from will catch up with me sooner or later and I'll have to face it, and I don't want to."

"Sounds like Uncle Jesse would be the one to ask for advice on this, but I think I can tell you what he might say, probably something along the lines of it's not a good idea to let fear run your life" she said gently.

"I know" she said shaking her head "and it's crippling everything, I'm too scared to live, too scared to move, too scared to love" she said, her eyes flicking to a torquoise and silver necklace that couldn't have cost more than ten dollars that was hung up on a peg board along with her pearls and her emerald necklace and other pieces worth ten times as much.

"You kept it?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah, don't ask me why" she said shaking her head "I guess it just reminded me of home, of Hazzard, of simpler days. Days when I was free to run around in overalls and pigtails and not forced to squeeze into designer brands and get decked out in jewels that cost almost as much as my car, just to please a man who could never be pleased" she said flopping back on her pillow staring at the ceiling.

"Hey hey hey sunshine, it can't be all that bad, can it?" Daisy asked.

"You ever had a man who thought he could buy love?" she asked "well Aaron Dillon thought he could not only buy love but he could buy that and then rebuild me into the model wife. Silent, fashionable, sophisticated and the perfect accessory to hang off his arm at galas. And my step-family was all in favor of this transformation. It worked for a while, I was everything I was supposed to be according to their standards, with just enough of my country ways to make me a cute conversation piece, like a lion skin brought back from a safari. But I felt like I was suffocated, and a week before my bridal shower I backed out. I told him I couldn't go through with it, and he told me he'd ruin my life for treating him like that. I told him he had already ruined mine so we were already even on that, and then I went and stayed with one of my college friends for about two weeks and made arrangements to come back to Georgia" she explained simply.

"Wow, it really was that bad" Daisy said.

"And you wanna know the worse thing, he partially succeeded, I've been bought, I have all these clothes and things he bought me, all fancy and expensive and I can't seem to get rid of me, even if the sight of them sickens me and makes me remember feeling like I was chained in a diamond and champagne prison."

Daisy looked around. "Well how about this, if you, I mean you personally, like the outfit or item then keep it, if you don't we can make a nice bonfire in your grandma's backyard?"

Scarlett laughed long and hard "Daisy Duke, you're a bona fide genius!" she said getting to her feet and going to the closet, throwing open the doors. She looked at a black and white ensemble that had a weird checker design but her step-sister had told her it was all the rage, she tossed it on the floor. A light blue outfit fell into the pile, then a salmon dress, the yellow, peach, white, and deep red dresses remained. She went through the rest of her closet in similar fashion.

She moved on to her jewelry box.

"I can't exactly burn these, you want any of them?" she said dumping a tray of tangled bracelets and earrings into Daisy's lap. Daisy had a fair idea that she was looking at almost a year's worth of tips in her lap.

"I can't take these, but you could donate the ones you don't want to charity for auction or something" Daisy suggested.

"Nope, this was your idea, you gotta get something out of it. But you're right what you don't want and I don't want we'll take get auctioned off for some fundraising event this summer. Maybe the fire department's annual sale? They still have that right?"

"Yeah" Daisy acknowledged.

"And Boss isn't skimming the profits from the sale yet is he?"

"Yeah, he is" she said.

"Well there's my church, First Baptist Hazzard has their annual bazaar, I'll sell them there, I could sell the clothes too, but the idea of burning them seems very appealing somehow" she admitted.

Daisy picked out a few nice pieces and they put the rest in an old shoebox. They gathered up the clothes to take outside and Scarlett stopped Daisy.

"One more thing" she said going to her dresser drawer and pulling out an old envelope and dumping out the pictures on the bed, pulling out ones with her and her college friends, and a few of her and her dad, just a couple of her and her stepfamily, simply because she felt it was wrong to burn them. Daisy looked over her shoulder and saw many pictures taken of high society events, many featuring a strained looking Scarlett with a forced smile painted on her face while she hung on the arm of a handsome dark haired and slightly tanned man who had to be taller than Bo or Luke, considering Scarlett only came up to his chest in her heels in the pictures. He looked a bit like Clark Gable minus the signature mustache Daisy thought.

"Yeah, that's him, Aaron Matthew Dillon, third son of one of the richest men in Texas, or the South honestly" she said showing her the picture "any girl would say that I was mad to turn down the chance to be the crown jewel of high society's favorite young man, especially when he was so handsome and so conveniently rich too" she said a bit bitterly.

Daisy picked up all the pictures and put them on top her burn pile.

"It's the past, don't let him make you unhappy now, otherwise his promise to ruin your life will actually come true" Daisy advised softly.

Scarlett grabbed the matches and went out to where Daisy had made a pile of her clothes. Scarlett went to the little lean-to shed and got the gasoline and threw it on the clothes with an angry vengeance and then lit a match, throwing it on the ground and the gas caught and the fire swelled up to a voluminous flame, reaching out into the night. She smiled in satisfaction as she saw the clothes from her old life enveloped in flames, a picture blew out of the fire, it was her and Aaron's engagement photo, she was smiling and so was he, she was on his lap looking cute. She had been happy with him at the start, it had just all went horribly wrong after they had actually become an official couple after her graduation from A&M. He had tried to isolate her from her college friends that weren't of his sphere, and had became so controlling that it nearly choked the life out of her, all the restraints on her life and how she could behave.

She sighed as she threw the photo back into the fire and watched the flames turn it to ashes. A weight had lifted off he shoulders with the turning of the clothes to cinders.

Scarlett bust out laughing all of the sudden.

"What's so funny?" Daisy asked.

"I don't have anything to wear now, I literally have like six dresses left and clothes that barely fit from back when I was sixteen that Nana kept in her trunk in the attic. I have no clothes" she said laughing even harder, collapsing on the ground just giggling ecstatically.

"Well I tell you what, we can go to Henry's department store this Tuesday, I have off again, and until then I'll let you borrow some of my clothes" Daisy said pulling her friend to her feet. "Come on, let's go out to the farm and get you some clothes so you don't have to run around nakeder than a jaybird" she said chuckling.

When they pulled up at the farmhouse Bo and Luke were inside and the first sound they heard was a deep musical laughter. Every five or so minutes Scarlett would remember what she had just done and burst out laughing, the iron restraining belt that had been fastened on her in Texas was coming loose. Bo looked up and saw Scarlett and Daisy come in arm in arm. Scarlett letting out peels of laughter while Daisy joined in, not laughing at the fact that Scarlett had burnt her clothes near so much as the fact that Scarlett's laughter was a bit infectious.

Bo smiled, there was the laughter he hadn't heard in ages. It warmed his heart to hear her so happy again.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing, I just burnt all my clothes and Daisy has to let me borrow some" she said giggling.

Bo just looked even more confused.

"It's a long story, come around tomorrow after lunch and I'll explain it" Scarlett said smiling.

"I can't" Bo complained. "I have to watch the livestock while Uncle Jesse goes on his annual trip to the tri-county agricultural meet-up for the weekend and Luke just hides out somewhere avoiding work" he said.

"Well then I'll come to you and keep you company" she said smiling and then disappearing upstairs with Daisy to pick out some clothes for the next couple days.

Luke looked at Bo "Not that there is ANY truth in what you just said, but I'll hide out somewhere this weekend, just so you can have the place to yourself" he said.

"It's not like that" Bo explained "not right now at least. She's still hurt over whatever happened in Texas, which I sure as hell wish she would tell me" he said frustratedly.

"Everything in it's time" Uncle Jesse said coming into the living room from the kitchen on the way to his room.


	6. A Good Night For Dancing

At around ten-thirty the next morning Scarlett went got in the Nova in Daisy's shorts and one of her own blouses and drove to find her Nana at the store.

"I'm gonna go keep the Dukes company while Jesse is out of town, figured I'd cook some stuff up for the boys" she said browsing the shelves.

"By 'the Dukes' do you possibly mean Beauregard?" her grandma asked coyly.

"It's not like that" Scarlett said shaking her head "we're good friends, we joke about our summer romance is how much we're not a thing" she protested lightly.

"Sure" her grandma said rolling her eyes. "And you should make your Brunswick Stew, you make a mean Brunswick" she said.

"I was already thinking of making it" she said before gathering the necessary items and checking out, getting into her Nova. She had found a name for it, 'Texas Tornado' and had paid Cooter to paint it on back bumper.

She drove out to the Duke's homestead, pulling up and parking under the big oak tree in the yard. She got the bag of groceries out of the trunk and walked up on the porch, knocking on the door. She waited a little bit, still no answer.

"Bo! get your lazy butt up and answer this door or I will turn right around and you can go without my fine cooking" she threatened. She heard the rapid heavy tread of boots coming down stairs and then Bo at the door, no shirt on and looking very much like he'd been napping.

"Scarlett" he said smiling and pushing his messy blond hair back from his face.

"I told you I was coming"

"I thought you said after lunch" he said groggily.

"Yeah but I figured you would want some real food instead of a can of beans and whatever you could forage out of the refrigerator" she said laughing. Bo laughed with her. "So, you gonna let me in? or am I supposed to melt to death in this Georgia heat?"

"Right, sorry" he said opening the screen door and ushering her inside. "Let me get a shirt on, don't wanna distract you from cooking" he teased as he shut the door behind her.

"You're so full of yourself" she said shaking her head. He just laughed and went upstairs to get a shirt, stopping by the bathroom on the way back to make some sense out of his messy bedhead from napping.

She was already industriously preparing everything for the stew.

"Can I help?" he asked in a slightly shyer tone than his usual one.

"Of course, get this off the cob" she said handing him a couple ears of corn.

"Thanks, give me the difficult job" he whined in mock distress.

"Well what do you think guys exist for?" she quipped.

"Well we are useful for other things too" he said grinning.

"Stop it" she said shaking her head and laughing as she lightly whacked him with a spoon. He grabbed the spoon. "Give that here Bo" she said putting her hands on her hips.

"Come and get it" he said leaping out of her reach and laughing as he ran into the living room. She ran after him as he held it above his head, making her jump futilely.

"You having fun up there Goliath?" she said glaring up at him.

"Just a bit" he said chuckling, holding it behind his back. She reached behind him, trying to retrieve it, and incidentally embracing him in the process. Her head went fuzzy with feelings and she looked up at him, forgetting about the spoon. He looked down at her and saw that old soft light that she used to look at him with, back in her blue eyes. But the moment broke, she shook her head, regaining herself and then grabbing the spoon.

"Got it!" she said victoriously. Leaving Bo confused, had she been faking that look just to get a spoon back? He couldn't see her playing that dirty. He followed her back to the kitchen and continued helping her with the meal preparation. As the stew simmered she sat down at the table with him.

"So you said you were going to explain last night to me?" Bo said "you burning your clothes and laughing and all?"

"Yeah" she said chuckling. "It was more of a therapy burn, it wasn't just clothes but pictures and anything that made me feel like I was still chained to that man" she said shaking her head.

"What man?" Bo asked leaning in a little closer, curiousity on his face. Maybe she was finally opening up to him.

"My fiance, or ex-fiance should I say. He's the reason I left Texas, the reason I can't go back, the reason I am running and came back to Hazzard, the reason I can't even speak with my step-family. They're all ashamed that I broke off the engagement. But honest Bo, I felt like I was being strangled" she said her tone getting higher and more stressed sounding.

"Shh, shh Sunshine" Bo coaxed, gently stroking her shoulder to calm her down. "This fiance of yours, what'd he do that has you running?" Bo asked protectively.

"Told me he'd ruin my life for breaking up with him. Honestly, he had already done a pretty good job while we were engaged" she admitted, sighing and leaning her head on Bo's shoulder, taking comfort in his pressence.

"What'd he do?" he asked his voice sharp, he wanted to find this ex of hers and break his leg for hurting her.

"Nothing that I didn't allow to happen. I let him influence me, to try and remake me into a socialite princess, a fashion icon, and to forget who I was, forget the simple life I had always known. He remade me into what he thought I ought to be, I wasn't allowed to do anything that might offend his social set. I didn't know who I was anymore" she said, a couple tears rolling down her cheek. I went into our relationship bouncy and carefree and now I'm crushed and broken and feel like a blind beggar in a ditch" she said letting out a short sob, hiding her face against his chest. Bo just stroked her shoulder sympathetically, not sure what to do, though he really wanted to find this guy and give him a solid punch in the face at the very least. Anybody who could take a girl like Scarlett and try to break her like that was unfit for life in his opinion. "My stew!" she exclaimed lifting her head as it started to bubble over.

"I'll get it" he said putting his hands on her shoulders to keep her in his seat and then walking over and stirring the pot.

"Please tell me this dumbass at least liked your cooking?" he asked, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Nope" she said "he was used to caviar and hundred dollar steaks, my cooking was 'poor folk food' according to him. Anything with that many ingredients was regarded as lower class food" she said sighing.

"That just proves this guy was an idiot and not worth your tears" he said coming over with a cloth napkin and dabbing her damp cheeks for her. She smiled and it made his heart glow to see it. "That's it sunshine, there's your pretty smile" he said coaxing an even bigger one out of her.

"Before I came back to Hazzard I hadn't had a nickname, at least not a nice one, since I left six years ago" she smiled "it feels nice to be Sunshine again" she said looking up at him.

"Well you just stay being sunshine forever Scarlett Jean Summers" he commanded softly.

"Forever Sunshine?" she said laughing softly "I sound like a perfume line."

"Hey, it works, you always smell nice and you've always been nice to be around" he said complimenting her, she smiled again, and this time it wasn't overcast by her grief.

They were serving up the stew when Luke came in.

"Your Gran had said you were cooking when I saw her in town, figured I'd come home and make sure y'all weren't cooking anything more than just food" he said teasing them.

"Shut up Luke" Bo said shaking his head.

"Well I could just tell him that if he doesn't behave he doesn't get any stew" she said with a wicked grin. Luke's face went pale and he shut his mouth.

They all sat down and Bo said the blessing and then they dug in.

"That was delicious" Luke complimented, finishing his third bowl.

"It took you three bowls to find that out, I could have told her that on the first bite" Bo teased.

Luke shook his head. "Well thanks for lunch Scarlett" he said smiling "I've got a date later so I better get cleaned up" he said.

"And conveniently NOT clean up the kitchen" Bo accused.

"You're the younger one, that's your job" he said and then went upstairs chuckling as Bo threw his boots one by one at his cousin. Scarlett just fell back in her chair laughing her heart out. Bo ceased chucking footwear and came back in the kitchen and started to clean up the dishes.

"I'll dry" she offered.

"Thanks" he said.

Two hours later Luke left the house to go pick up his date. He was taking her out for supper and had gotten Scarlett's great advice on what made him look best.

"And he calls me the peacock" Bo snorted after he drove off. Scarlett laughed and went back to the kitchen pouring her and Bo two glasses of sweet tea.

They sat and talked until the sun was well out of the sky and the stars were out. The night was cooling off.

"We should open the doors and windows and get the cooler air" Bo said reluctantly getting up. His backside sore from sitting talking to her for so long. They went and opened up the windows, Scarlett went and got the bedrooms, her eye catching on an old trunk in the closet in Bo and Luke's room.

"Hey Bo" she said calling to him. He came upstairs. "Is that your old chest, the one with all those old records we used to play when we were kids?"

"I think so, I haven't opened that thing God knows how long" he said dragging it out from the closet. They fiddled with the latches on it, finally prying them open. The smell of old paper and cloth came out of the trunk as they opened it. The trunk contained what remained of his parent's personal items and his own special items that he secretly cherished.

She reached in, pulling out the pile of records that had belonged to Bo's parents.

"We should give them a spin, do some dancing, make the house-sitting go by faster" she suggested.

"Now that sounds like plain fun" he said grinning, taking the rest of the stack of records and carrying them downstairs with her as they looked through them sitting on the living room floor.

"Here's a classic" she said handing him a Fats Domino record to put on.

He smiled "you used to always want to hear this one" he recalled.

"I figured it was a good one to start with" she said grinning. He put it on and then pulled her to her feet from off the floor, taking her hand and leading her around the living room floor.

"It's too crowded in here" he said, leading her to the kitchen and pushing the table to the side along with the chairs and then returning to dancing with Scarlett.

They twisted, cha-cha-ed and did all the old school dance moves they knew. Somehow not landing once on a slow jam. They put on an Elvis record, both of them tired but not wanting stop. The second song in was 'I Can't Help Falling In Love' a slow song indeed. Bo held her close, swaying softly and moving his feet just a bit. He loved the way she felt with her head on his chest and he smiled. He felt happy. Genuinely happy, not just attracted or excited. It felt peaceful with her in his arms.

"You gettin' tired?" he asked as her feet stopped moving.

"Just a bit" she said stifling a yawn. He turned the record player off and sat down on the couch with her.

"You want me to give you a ride home?" he asked.

"Nah" she said sleepily.

He was going to ask another question but when he looked down her eyes were closed as she rested her head on his shoulder. She had fallen asleep. He smiled, looking at the clock. It was past three in the morning. If her family was going to hang him for having her over they would do it even if he woke her up and brought her home that instant. He got comfortable, holding Scarlett in his arms as he swung his legs up onto the couch. Just cuddling with her, not in an intimate way, just in a two people sharing one couch have to get cozy kind of way. He'd like to be snuzzling with her, but those days were past.

There was a popular song that had been on the radio lately, not country, but he had heard it when they were driving through Atlanta. He softly hummed it, lulling himself to sleep, his arm around her as she peacefully slumbered.

'Pretty eyed- something something something' the song went. The two of them slept in peaceful innocency and bliss until the rooster crowed in the yard in the early morning and woke Bo up. Sometime in the night Daisy had come home because there was a blanket tossed on top of them that hadn't been there before.

"Rise and shine sunshine" Bo said pushing the hair out of her face. Her lips wer chapped and stuck together and she turned her face away and let out an enormous yawn, turning over on her stomach.

"Well hello there" she said giggling a bit and then accidentally slipping off and landing on the floor.

"You okay?" Bo asked. She just laughed. He bent down and picked her up with one arm, pulling her back onto the couch.

"You know, with me stuck on this couch who's gonna make your breakfast?" she asked.

"Alright, food trumps snuggle-buddy" he admitted reluctantly, his stomach grumbling.

Surprisingly, when Scarlett came home that afternoon, her grandma didn't scold or say anything, she just asked how the boys were and about Daisy. Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief. At least no on seemed to think she and him were rekindling their old romance. Because they weren't. Well not just yet. She had loved dancing the night away with him, and talking about their childhoods, and waking up curled up in his arms, but that didn't mean she was falling in love with him for the second time in six years.


	7. 3rd Gear and 17

Scarlett felt a lot freer after that night talking with Bo. She did feel the need to find something to do besides live in her grandma's garden all summer though. So she drove down to Cooter's garage early one afternoon.

"Hey Cooter" she said after coming in from the heat and helping herself to a Coke.

"What can I do for you sunshine?" he asked smiling genially out from under his stained old hat.

"I'm going to race Texas Tornado on the powderpuff circuit" she stated.

"Ya don' say?" he asked.

"Yep, I've been going stir-crazy all summer, and I figured with a little work Tornado would be ready for the racing circuit" she said. "It's not like I didn't race before" she said "not on circuit but in college my friends and I would go to tracks and race on Friday nights for the hell of it" she said.

"I ain't doubtin' your abilities, I've seen you drive, were you to go up the Duke boys you'd win if you had a car like the General" he said.

"And that's why I'm here, to turn Texas Tornado into a car like the General" she said.

"You don' ask much" Cooter said chuckling.

"I can help you" she said smiling.

"You sure?"

"I do know a bit about cars, enough to grab the right tools and tell you what I want done and pitch in here and there" she said. "So we got a deal, I'll give you two hundred and fifty for it, that sound fair?"

"Your daddy must have more money than sense, I'd take that but I'd feel bad robbing a lady" he said laughing.

"Well when we're done we can agree on a price" she said rolling up her sleeves.

She and Cooter worked the engine over, tuning it up until it practically sung. It was later in the evening when Bo and Luke came into the garage.

"Hey Cooter" Luke shouted coming in. Instead he and Bo found themselves looking at a grease smudged Scarlett.

"Hey boys" she said smiling.

"You're a mess" Bo said taking a cloth and wiping her face clean a bit.

She laughed.

"What are y'all doin'?" Luke asked.

"Getting Tornado ready for the circuit, I finally found something to do over the summer" she said smiling proudly. "The engine is all in order, now we're going to be going over and replacing all the worn parts and making it perfect" she said.

Bo smiled at her "Glad you found something to do with your time besides garden and singing in the church choir" he teased pulling her braided pigtail lightly just to tease her.

"Oh you're just scared that once Tornado is up and running that I'll run the General off the road" she said sassily.

"I'd like to see you try" Bo challenged.

"Then it's on, one week from now, the backroad by the Foster's old homestead, you and me?" she said.

"Deal" Bo said smiling down at her. If he couldn't have her for a girlfriend a racing buddy was the next best thing he thought.

They all laughed and Bo watched as Cooter and Scarlett worked on the car.

The week passed and the maroon Nova came out of the garage purring like a kitten. Scarlett drove it out to the Duke's farm loving the power and smoothness that it drove with now that it had had the ultimate tune-up.

"How do you like my car?" she challenged as she drove up in the yard, parking it and getting out.

"It sounds real fine" Luke complimented. She spent the evening hanging out with the boys, talking cars and racing. Kicking back beers and getting their advice on how things went driving in the circuit. After Luke went upstairs Scarlett went to the couch, knowing she was too drunk to drive home. Bo weaved his way over to where she was.

"Sleep well sleeping beauty" he said smiling and he gave her hand an awkward but heartfelt squeeze before making his way upstairs. Scarlett lay there thinking about the way his hand felt on hers, she had missed that, having someone's comforting touch. She turned her face to the couch and found tears in her eyes. She wished that she'd never left Hazzard. Hell, if she had stayed, who knew, her and Bo could have been happily married with two little kids by now. She shook her head, but that kind of future was out of her reach now, he had gotten into the habit of bachelorhood and she was too broken to be any good to any man. She had lost that romance somewhere just before her seventeenth birthday and it was gone forever.

The next morning Scarlett was up before the sun and back home, making breakfast for her grandma and uncle. As she was cleaning up she heard the General drive up in the yard and rev real loud.

"Cut it out" she shouted from off the porch.

"Mrs Amthor, can Scarlett come out and play?" Bo shouted out the window of the General, laughing.

"You hooligan" her grandmother said shaking her head and scooting her granddaughter out of the house "nevermind the chores, I'll do them" she said indulgently as Scarlett grabbed her keys and jumped in the Nova.

The two of them took curves and jumps, passing each other, and blocking Cooter when they saw him coming up behind them. Cooter eventually turned off, leaving the two of them careening around corners and down backroads, driving through low water bridges that were a bit flooded from recent rain and throwing up water like regular hellions. Their laughter could be heard over their engines almost it was so loud. They were having a good time but when they got to the stretch by the abandoned homestead where no one ever drove and there was three miles of abandoned road they stopped at the unmarked line that began between the two big magnolias. They looked at each other, revving their engines and grinning. Bo held up his fingers for 3. 2. 1. and then they were off, going top speeds down the winding road. They spun in to the curve at the end of the road but Scarlett lost traction and ran off into the brush down the hillside, navigating between trees and coming to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

Bo jumped out of the General Lee before he even had the engine fully turned off on, running down the hill he came up to the door and pulled her out of the window.

"I'm fine" she said as he got her. "Really, I'm fine" she said but Bo was holding her close in his arms. She could hear his heart racing with adrenaline that had been kickstarted by their racing but unleashed by concern for her. She sighed and let his embrace melt away the slight shock that she felt. They stood there for several minutes, just holding each other in silence.

Finally Scarlett broke it "there's a river at the bottom of this hill right?" she asked.

"Sure is" Bo said.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.

"Maybe, depends on if you're thinking of doing a little swimming?" he asked.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking, we'll get Tornado back up the hill later" she said making her way to the river bank with Bo right behind her.

They sat down by the river, stripping down to their underwear and then diving in, swimming around.

"Well seeing as our road race got a little distracted, what do you say about a swimming contest?" she asked grinning.

"I'll give you a three second headstart, just to be fair" Bo said.

"You don't have to, and if I win you can subtract half that time from mine" she said.

"You're not gonna beat me" he said confidently.

"You really think so." She said as they climbed out onto the log that hung over the river.

"I do" he said grinning.

"Alright" she said "ready, one, two ,three go!" she said diving in, swimming up the stream, Bo waited a couple seconds and then dove in after her. She struggled against the swift current, enjoying the challenge, Bo came up to her side as they swam towards the bend that was the finish point. He outstripped her about 12 yards from the bend. He reached the end and then swam back, taking her hands and pulling her up stream as he swam on his back with just his legs.

She shook her head as they sat in the shallow eddy "Show off" she panted.

"Did you really expect that to change Scarlett?" he asked.

"No, not really, but my swimming skills have certainly fallen short in the past six years. Pools don't measure up to the challenge of a good river swim at all" she said still catching her breath.

"City girl" Bo said trying to disguise it as a cough.

"Shut up!" she said sending a splash of water into his face.

"Hey" he said diving under and pulling her under water by her legs. She laughed and gave him a shove underwater, he came up for air, pulling her up with him. They suddenly realized that there was very little space between them when they came up, and Bo still had hold of her hands. She was momentarily spellbound, thinking she was still young sweet and sixteen and that Bo who never changed was her summer sweetheart. He looked at her and almost bent down to kiss her, he wanted to, he had wanted to for weeks now, but he saw a cloud pass over her face as she came out of her reverie, she gently reclaimed her hands and went to the shore. She got up on a rock and looked at the pool that the eddy had formed over years she grinned and dove in, trying to shake off the feelings she had just had.

A couple hours passed and the two got her car back on the road and drove home, both with a lot on their minds. She had invited Bo to have dinner with her and to bring his family and so they Dukes and Amthors had dinner together with Scarlett and all the family noticed a thoughtful silence that had fallen over the two youngest people at the table.

Weeks passed and Scarlett began to make a name for herself on the racing circuit. The boys began to return the favor and come to her races as she had been coming to theirs. Texas Tornado was talked about all over the tri-county area and Scarlett always gave credit where it was do and said it was a gift from the Dukes of Hazzard county. Sometimes they both had races in the same town on the same weekend. Usually the powderpuff races went on Friday nights and the men raced on Saturday.

There was a race at the end of July that was Friday girls and Saturday the boys were going to race. The night before the girls race Scarlett was out at the Duke's farm having dinner with them. She planned on spending the night so she and the boys could go over their cars the next morning before she went to race.

"How are you feelin' about this race Scarlett?" Jesse asked over dinner.

"I'm feeling good" she said after she swallowed. "I think me and Tornado have it, though I am concerned about Mary Lou and the Dixie Darling, but she's the only real threat to me not having the crown for tri-county racing queen" she said proudly.

Jesse and the boys laughed "thats's big talk there Scarlett."

"Well you know what they say, everything's bigger in Texas, including the talk"

"Especially the talk" Scarlett said laughing and then stifling a yawn. "I think I'll be borrowing your couch again" she said chuckling. She spent half her nights sleeping on the Duke's couch these days.

"You can have my bed" Bo offered before thinking.

"And where does that leave Luke?" she reminded him.

"Right" he said shaking his head.

"But thanks" she said smiling and patting his arm before going over and flopping down on the couch.

"Here" he said coming over with a light blanket a minute or two later.

"Thanks" she said taking his hand in gratitude.

"N-no problem" he said trying to shake the feeling it gave him.

The next day at the race Scarlett was participating in the first part, the obstacle course while the boys watched. She won, and expecting to see Bo with Luke when she was greeted as champion she saw it was just Luke. She smiled anyways, what did it matter if Bo was somewhere else? She hugged Luke who lifted her on his shoulders toting her around as champion. She laughed, her laughter dying when she saw Bo cozily talking to some girl with chestnut curls over by the concession stand. She looked about as city as a girl could in her white skirt and heels with her lowcut blouse. Luke put her down giving her another brotherly hug and then seeing where her gaze was.

"Ah, that's where Bo is. Figures." Luke said. "He's been seeing Sandra for about two weeks now, her cousin races. She's from Atlanta, some rich family I think" he told Scarlett, sharing all he knew about Bo's new romance.

Scarlett stared and then turned away, forcing that smile back onto her face.

"Good for him" she said "she's very pretty" she lied. Because to Scarlett she looked exactly like the dozens of superficial high society girls that had sent her running back to Hazzard for fear of turning into one of them. It was something mixed with jealousy as well as concern that seeped into her heart. She knew that a girl like that would just see Bo as her boy-toy, not that he had a great reverance for women, but she had thought better of Bo, she had wanted better for him. Nothing good would come from his romance with Sandra and she knew it, felt it down to her bones.

That day after finishing second in the next event, and first in the last one she left, going right out to Texas Tornado, climbing in the window and turning the engine over and not letting off the gas pedal until she was back in Hazzard and at her grandma's. She quietly went upstairs to her room, not wanting to wake her family. Bo could race the General without her support, he didn't need her now, he had a bright eyed brunette to watch him, she was just his friend. She cleaned the grease and dust off her skin that night and looked in the mirror. She saw a face that she hated. The face with the forced smile that she hadn't had to put on for over two months now. She sighed and lay on her bed unable to sleep. She woke up the next morning with dark circles. She didn't know why Bo having a misbegotten romance bothered her so much. She couldn't focus on her chores, they took her three times as long as normal. She felt bad for leaving the boys to race without her, but Luke might understand, and Bo wouldn't care. She went out driving the backroads to clear her head. She'd drive him out of her head.


	8. I'll Do It Everytime

The Sunday after the race, Scarlett's father called to say he was coming to see her in Hazzard, he'd drive her car out to her and fly back. He had business in Atlanta anyways. The churning feeling in Scarlett's stomach that had started with the sight of Sandra only increased with this news. She and her dad didn't always get along, especially after he had remarried. She didn't want to cause problems for him in his new life with her step-mother, but somedays she wished that he had never met her, not just because her and Aaron would have never met that way, but because she and her dad had been much closer before her stepmother Monica had come on the scene.

She drove out to the Dukes after church, she wanted to go talk with Uncle Jesse and get away to clear her head. She drove up and found Luke and Bo in the front yard under the hood of the General.

"Hey sunshine" Luke said smiling and giving her a hug when she showed up.

"Jesse here?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's inside" he replied.

"Hi Bo" she said as she walked past.

"Hey, how come you didn't stay for our race?" he asked a bit bitterly.

"I didn't feel I would be missed and I needed to get away" she said before disappearing inside.

Bo shook his head and muttered 'girls' and then turned back to working on the General.

Luke looked from one to the other and tried not to laugh.

"Mr Jesse?" she said coming inside.

"Miss Scarlett" he said coming into the kitchen "how was church?"

"It was good, afterwards is when things went bad" she said.

"So you've come to talk with me about it?" he asked.

"Yeah" she said falling into a chair at the table as he served her some tea. "Thanks."

"So what's on your mind darlin'?" he asked in a paternal tone.

"My dad is coming out to visit, he gets here on Wednesday" she said sighing and looking out the window.

"And this has you bothered?" he asked curiously.

"Well yes and no, he's my daddy and I love him, but ever since he remarried we've grown apart, and I think he'll want me to move back to Texas" she said sighing.

"And will you?"

"I don't know. I don't want to go back, I don't see how I can, but I don't want to just be stuck in Hazzard either. I didn't get educated just so I could race cars and tend chickens" she said. "And while I don't mind the lack of eligible bachelors, considering as my courtin' days are behind me" she said and would have continued before Jesse gave her a look that made her stop.

"Sugar, you're going on twenty-three, that's not exactly the age to be giving up on romance" he said in a tone of authority.

"But I-" he stopped her again.

"You've had heartbreak, but that ain' no reason to throw in the towel on finding love again" he cautioned.

"But I'm not fit for any man" she protested.

"Now that's just fear makin' excuses for you. You're too scared to try again, that's the truth, scared you might fall for a guy who isn't willin' to take you to the altar or for another one who wants to alter you before he's willing to. You want a romance that lasts forever, as you should, but you ain' ever gonna find it by shuttin' out the fellas that show interest in ya" he said.

She sighed "Iike who?" she asked rhetorically "your boys are just about the only single men under thirty and out of high school in this county" she said. Jesse just raised his eyebrow expectantly. "Now Mr Jesse, they're sweet guys and all, but they ain' interested in me. Me and Luke see each other more as siblings than as potential lovers, and while me and Bo had our summer romance, that's in the past, we've both made that pretty clear. I mean he's seeing someone else anyways" she protested.

Jesse just shook his head "I ain' tellin' ya who to fall in love with, I'm just sayin that if you stopped lookin' for reasons to turn boys away you might realize there's one out there that is interested in ya" he said getting to his feet and calling the boys in for dinner.

Scarlett was silent all through dinner, not saying much. Bo was a tad surly, and left before they were all done, he had a date with Sandra he explained. That news put a frown on more than one face.

"This one ain' gonna end well" Luke observed as they heard the General pull out of the driveway and go off down the road.

"Tell me about it" Scarlett said "I know girls like Sandra, I used to have to be around them on a daily basis, and she's just using Bo for some summer fun, I just hope Bo isn't getting too attached" she said. Luke and Jesse raised eyebrows "not for my own sake" she explained "but I don't wanna see him hurt by some slick city tramp" she said before getting up and driving back home, she saw the General pull off onto a side road going the opposite direction as she headed home. She drove even faster, tears in her eyes for reasons she couldn't seem to find.

Soon enough her father came to visit and she had more important things that Bo's impending heartbreak to be concerned about. Wednesday afternoon her dad pulled up in her black trans-am. She came out and gave him a hug.

"So when are you planning on coming back home?" was the first question out of his mouth. She sighed.

"I haven't quite decided if I am going back to Texas yet dad" she said softly.

"Well you can't just live in Hazzard for forever" he said dismissively.

"Why not?"

"I'm not gonna have you hangin' around burdening your grandmother, she can't afford your upkeep, she's poor enough as is, and I won't subsidize you wasting your life" he said as they went inside.

"She ain' a burden Thomas, she's been a blessing, she does the work that I'm gettin' too old to do and she helps out at the store. Besides, she's all thats left of this family besides Jonah, and he ain' likely to get married, so the store would go to her" her grandma defended.

"I didn't pay for her to get a college education just so she could be a sales clerk" he said trying to speak respectfully to his ex-mother-in-law.

"I've been thinking about teaching" Scarlett said.

"Now at least that's using your degree, but here? in Hazzard? they're not gonna want a drama teacher. They've no use for one, you belong back in Texas with your family" he said.

"I have family here too!" she said.

"Will you hear reason?" he said sighing in exasperation.

"Not if reason is only your opinion of what I should do with my life" she said fiercely.

"We'll talk about this more later" he said trying to keep a lid on his temper.

"I have no doubt we will" she said "I'm gonna go feed some chickens" she said storming outside to the backyard.

Her father wiped his brow.

"Why is she so bent on staying here? I just don't understand" he said sitting down "she hasn't fallen in love again or anything has she?" he asked Jonah.

"Not that I know of, she's been out with some boys but nothing more than just as friends. She's spent the summer helping out around here and the store and racing on the girls circuit. She's quite good, came in first all around in the tri-county race a week or so back" he said.

"If you're expecting me to be proud I hate to disappoint you Jonah, I didn't raise her to be a speed-demon, she was meant for more than just some small town where she fritters away her time racing and pretending she's going to teach" he said.

"Now that ain' fair Thomas" her grandma interupted coming out of the kitchen "she's happy here, can you promise she'd be happy if she went back to Texas with ya? The big city just isn't where she wants to be, not right now at least, and until she wants to go back I'm more than happy to have her here with me in my old age. She's a breath of fresh air, even if sometimes she's sad and melancholy. She went through a lot back in Texas. You can't expect her to want to go rushing back. It ain't that she don't love you, it's not you, it's what that high society life did to her, she just don' wanna get sucked back into all that. And she knows that she probably will if she goes back with you" she explained, trying to sound gentle.

"But she belongs with her family"

"She's twenty-two, going on twenty-three, she belongs wherever she wants to be. She's not a little girl you can just tell to move and she has to move, she's a grown woman who can make her own choices now. It's not like last time where you went running from your memories and took her with you. She's running from her own memories now and she ran right back to where you ran from. You two are more alike than you'd like to admit" she said knowingly.

"I guess so" he said reluctantly.

After angrily feeding the chickens Scarlett got in her trans-am and drove barreling down the highway, trying to loose the tension she felt since talking with her dad. She saw the General coming down the highway, looked like Bo was racing someone. She didn't recognize the car, but it was on her side of the road. And it wasn't going to give way as it came straight for her. She swerved off the road, bouncing down a hill as she controlled her descent down into a seasonal creek at the bottom of the hill.

She was shooken up a bit but opened the door and got out of the car and heard raised voices at the top of the hill.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she heard Bo ask in his scary angry voice.

"What's the big deal, I'm sure whoever it was is fine" came an airy voice.

"You don't know that, you could have fallen back or turned off on that road right before you drove them off the road" he said vehemently.

"It's not a big deal, if it's totaled I'll just get my daddy to send some money to pay for them a new car. I don't see what you're so upset about" he said.

"Don't see why I'm upset? you could have killed that girl in the Trans-Am."

"I hardly think so" she said.

"Hey, girl in the Trans-Am" came the voice of Sandra McConaughey "you're not dead are you?"

"No" came Scarlett's defiant voice "I'm alive, no thanks to you. You batshit crazy bitch" she added in a quieter voice.

"See" Sandra said smugly but Bo was already halfway down the hill.

"Scarlett!" he shouted bounding down the hill to her. "Sunshine! you okay?" he asked wide-eyed and frenzied with concern, pulling her close and checking her over for any broken bones. Her scalp was bleeding from where she'd had her head thrown against the side of her metal review mirror. "I'm so sorry honey" Bo said tearing cloth from his shirt and binding up her head for her.

"You don't need to do that" she said "tryin' to look like a big damn hero to show off for your girl" she teased, making light of it.

"She can go to hell for all I care, the only girl I care about right now is you" he said helping her to a sitting position on the hood of her car.

"Bo! are you gonna come back up here or not? I ain't climbing down there, I'll ruin my shoes" Sandra whined bossily.

"Sandra you can go get in your car and drive back to Atlanta and if I never meet another spoiled heartless brat like you again in my life it will be too soon" he said glaring at her up the hill, venom in his eyes for the girl who had nearly got Scarlett killed.

"Ugh. How dare you?" she screeched. "After all it was your idea" she accused.

"It was my idea we race, it wasn't my idea you nearly kill one of my best friends" he shouted back and then turned his back on her.

"Fine. Your loss" she said and turned away, the sound of her heels on the pavement echoing down to where Bo and Scarlett were.

"You didn't have to break up with her on my account" Scarlett said.

"She didn't even seem to care that she could have killed someone, I may not have a lot of standards where girls are concerned" he said flushing a bit "but I won't date one without a heart" he said. "Besides" he said putting a hand on her cheek, cleaning some smeared blood off "it never felt right. I always knew in the back of my mind who it was that I really wished I could be with" he said and then dropped his hand. She picked it up in hers.

"I think I know what you mean, and I'm not saying yes, but I'm saying maybe. I still have to decide whether I'm staying in Hazzard or not, but if I do stay then the answer is yes" she said smiling a bit at him. A grin that hadn't been seen for about a month burst out on Bo's face.

"Hey, I better get on the CB and get Cooter out here to tow your car out of this ravine" he said coming to himself.

"Thanks" she said smiling, and it wasn't forced this time.


	9. A Good Day for Sunsets

Thomas Summers was going to spend a week, and that week was how much time Scarlett had to make up her mind whether she wanted to call Texas or Georgia home. He tried not to pressure her to come back too much, but he did really want her a little closer than eight hundred miles away. She was all that was left of her mother and the happy simple days of young love in a small Georgia town. He had been raised just outside Atlanta and had moved to Hazzard just to make Scarlett's mother happy.

Scarlett had a race three days before her dad was set to go back to Texas and she persuaded him to come watch her drive. So the whole family packed into two separate cars while Scarlett drove Texas Tornado to Macon to race. The Dukes followed them and Cooter tagged along too. They had a picnic before the race that her grandma had packed with Daisy's help.

As dusk fell she went over Tornado one more time just to make sure everything was in order. Her dad came up to her, looking under the hood with her. He wasn't too knowledgable on cars but was very proud that she was. At least he didn't have to worry about her breaking down and not knowing how to change a tire.

"Hey" he said putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey daddy" she said leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I just want you to know that even if I don't like your choices, and if I come off as hard and strict on you, it's just because I want what's best for you, but I am proud of you, whatever you choose" he said kissing her forehead.

"Thanks dad" she said and then grinned "just wait until you see me race, then you'll be real proud" she said tossing her strawberry blonde curls out of her face and then closing the hood.

"You ready?"

"Of course" she said smiling and then climbing into the Nova. They waved her off as she got to the starting line. She saw the Dixie Darling right next to her and she and the driver made eye contact. They knew that whoever won this was the queen of the Georgia circuit. It was the last race of the summer after all.

They sped off, taking turns and dodging obstacles, flying off ramps and cutting off other drivers. She and Mary Lou blocked for each other just to make sure it would be just the two of them in contention on the final lap. The Dixie Darling was making a turn when one of the other drivers did an illegal maneuver that blocked her. Scarlett saw it in her review mirror and spun back around clipping the car that cheated and sending it off the track. She turned back around and continued around the track while Mary Lou got righted and went back into the race. They both fought to get ahead of the cars they'd fallen behind, but Scarlett landed in second and Mary Lou made fourth. They got out and shook hands and Scarlett was thanked by all for being a force for justice on the track. The crowd considered her the uncrowned queen. Bo burst over and hugged her.

"I'm so proud of you sunshine" he said giving her a bear hug.

"I learned from the best" she said smiling at him and Luke and then they lifted her up on their shoulders between the two of them and carried her over to her family.

"What you did was real classy Scarlett" her father congratulated her, lifting her down off Bo and Luke's shoulders.

"Thanks daddy" she said kissing his cheek and handing him her 2nd place medal. "Take it home to Texas with you and think of me" she said smiling.

"So you've decided?" he asked a little forlornly.

"Yes sir, I'll miss you, and I miss things about Texas, but I feel at home here. I'm happy, I have genuine friends and I have family here who loves me. Texas I have you, but other than that it's bad memories and college friends who have moved on for the most part. I'll visit at Christmas" she promised.

"Alright. Well what do you say to dinner? just us before I head out on Wednesday?"

"Sure, I'll drive you to Atlanta" she offered.

He smiled proudly and putting his arm around her shoulders they walked over to Texas Tornado, her driving and him in the passenger seat.

Bo was just grinning ear to ear.

"All that grinnin' can't be just because her and her daddy are gettin' along?" Jesse surmised.

"No sir" he said and walked over to the General without another word getting in and starting it as Luke came over and got in.

Jesse shook his head and chuckled. He knew something was up, but not quite what, and at his age surprises were a rare thing, and it made him smile.

Wednesday morning came and Scarlett helped her daddy pack all his stuff into the back of the Nova. When they reached Atlanta he told her to stop downtown. She presumed the plan was to eat at a nice restaurant downtown but instead she found her father stopping in front of a high-end but practical clothing department store. She looked at him curiously.

"I want to buy you some stuff" he said taking her inside the store. He let her shop around and bought her whichever dresses she picked, along with skirts and blouses for teaching in the fall. They walked past the bridal section of the department store.

"I don't suppose you'll be needing one of these in Hazzard" he teased.

"I don't think so, but you never know" she said chuckling softly.

"Oh?" her dad questioned.

"Hush" she said laughing.

"No, really, who's the potential prospect?" he asked.

"We're not even dating, not yet at least" she said dismissively.

"It's Bo, isn't it?" he asked.

"What made you guess him?"

"The way he looks at you, and how happy he was when you said you were staying in Hazzard" he said.

"Well he is a sweet guy, and I'm not sure if he'll ever get around to marriage, but if we do date I wouldn't be opposed to him getting ideas in that direction. Eventually."

"Not that you asked, or that you need to, but you do have my approval. That boy may have a wild side but he's got a good heart and he'll look out for you, and I don't have to worry about him intentionally hurting you or trying to change you" he said smiling.

"Thanks daddy" she said smiling as they went to the sales clerk and began ringing up the clothes. Dinner went great and they laughed and joked around like they hadn't done in years. She took him to his hotel, and while she was helping him load his luggage onto the elevator cart his business associate who he was meeting arrived with a young man who was interning with him.

"Scarlett honey, this is Mr James Anderson" her father said introducing the man "and I don't know this young man" he said.

"Mark Carlton" he said putting his hand out to Scarlett and then her father. Scarlett rolled her eyes, this city slicker had just disrespected her dad in his eagerness to wow her. She rolled her eyes to herself.

"Do you want to get some drinks with us?" Mr Anderson invited, sensing his protege's interest in the blue-eyed blonde.

"No, I've got to get back home, and I won't drive over ten miles with any alcohol in my system" she explained.

"Why not?" Mark asked conceitedly "you can't handle alcohol and a car at the same time?"

"No, I can, I just choose to lead by example for those who can't."

"Well, that sounds a bit dull" he said.

"No, on the contrary, if more people led by example my best friend wouldn't be an orphan" she said strongly.

The man fell silent.

"We'll meet you at the bar Thomas" Mr Anderson said, sensing that Scarlett wanted a moment with her father before she headed out.

"Well I'll see you at Christmas sunshine" he said hugging her "be sure to keep in touch and give me your news. Tell me how bringing the arts to Hazzard goes" he teased.

"I will make our home county cultured" she said laughing. "They'll learn that Faulkner isn't the only one with a Hamlet" she joked.

"Well, if anyone can bring educate them I have faith it's you, and while it may not be teaching at a university or marrying into a rich family, it's probably more impactful than either of those. Time back in Hazzard made me remember how big simple things really are" he said holding her. She looked up at him and smiled, leaning up in her high heels and kissing his cheek.

"Tell everyone that cares that I said hi" she said.

"Yes ma'am" he said grinning. "And tell that boy that if he breaks your heart I'll fly right back out here."

"Dad! we're not even dating" she said.

"Yet" he qualified.

"Yet" she said turning and throwing a grin her dad's way before jumping into the Nova and waving as she turned the key. She raced back to Hazzard and pulled up in front of the Duke's and honked her horn. She had ordered a custom horn that played the Aggie War Hymn. Bo came outside.

"You're back!" he exclaimed.

"Get in" she said and Bo slid across the hood and into the Nova and they headed out to the cotton fields by the county line. The cotton was fully blossomed and about to be harvested. The fields were white as far as the eye could see. She pulled over onto the side of the road.

"Why are we stopping here?" Bo asked climbing out the window.

"Because it's beautiful" she said "and I love cotton in bloom at sunset" she added climbing out. Bo took her hand and helped her walk between the rows so they didn't disturb the crop.

"So how was Atlanta?" he asked as they walked together.

"Good, still got the clothes daddy bought me in the trunk, and we ate dinner, then there was this stupid city boy who thought he was smooth who interns for one of my dad's business partners who was trying to hit on me" she said shaking her head.

"What made you turn him down?" he asked, hoping for an answer that was favorable to him.

"Well" she started as they stopped in the middle of the field but the witty response wouldn't come. The only thing that did come to her was an action, and she acted on it instinctively. She put her hands on his shoulders and leaning up in her high heels she put her lips on his. He was surprised but melted into it, leaning down so she didn't have to strain to his height and wrapping his arms around her waist, holding her close. Their lips separated but still he held her close. She just rested her head on his chest.

"I drove straight back from Atlanta just so I could get that done today" she said giggling. "I couldn't get you out of my head for the whole drive back" she confessed.

"And I haven't been able to get you out of mine since the race when you said you were staying in Hazzard" he admitted. They both laughed. He looked down at her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and bent her back in a sweeping kiss that made her head spin. She caught her breath as they separated.

"Hell Bo!" she exclaimed breathlessly "you need to come with a warning label" she teased half-serious.

"I know" he said grinning cockily. He picked her up on his back and toted her back to Texas Tornado whooping and acting goofy. He spun around just to make her dizzy and then set her down on the hood. "Why did we wait so long to get together?" he asked rhetorically.

"I don't know, I think it was me, and I'm sorry, I would have traded all my 'needing time to myself' for a summer of this" she said chuckling. He smiled and kissed her nose.

"Can I drive Tornado?" he asked, having a spot in mind.

"Bo, I'm dating you, we're not married" she said gripping her keys and swinging her legs around and in the driver's side window. He laughed.

"Well how am I supposed to romance you under the stars if you're the one driving?" he teased.

"Why do you think I'm the one driving?" she asked laughing as she turned the engine on.

He shook his blond head of hair laughing. She drove out and parked in front of the Boar's Nest.

"So is this our first date?" he asked mockingly imitating a shy high school girl voice.

"I guess" she said faking a bass voice. They both laughed and he crawled out and came around and pulled her out the window, still chuckling.

"But, no, seriously" she said "is this our first date? not that I'm asking you, but I am asking if it is?" she said blushing a bit.

"Yes" he said putting his hand on her cheek and bending down and pressing his lips softly to hers.

"I like it" she said.

"Glad you do, there's more where that came from" he said grinning as he took her arm.

"I meant the fact that this is a date" she said just to bust his ego a little "not that I was complaining about the other" she said giggling a bit.

"I've yet to have any complaints about it" he said and she poked his rib.

"I thought I was dating you but I feel your ego is so big it honestly constitutes a whole 'nother person in this relationship" she said chuckling.

"It's a buy one get one free deal" he said as he helped her into a seat.

"Wow" she said sarcastically "you're a real steal of a deal Bo Duke." He laughed and went to the bar and got her a bourbon and coke.

"Thanks" she said smiling as she took a sip.

"Wanna dance?" he asked as a good quick tempo song came on.

"Of course I do!" she said and he pulled her to her feet, leading her to the floor where they danced to nearly every song that was played. Taking short breaks to catch their breath and drink. Later on Luke showed up and came over to them.

"Hey y'all, what's cookin'?" he asked eyeing them.

"Oh, nothin' much" Scarlett said reaching for her drink and Bo pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"I figured as much" Luke said nodding "I think I owe Daisy some money now" he said slipping a five in her tip bag as she walked past. She turned around and looked back and set down her tray, going over and hugging Scarlett and giving Bo a sisterly shove.

"Congrats you two, I'll come by later on break" she said picking her tray back up and distributing drinks.

Later that night Scarlett and Bo were both a bit tipsy and asked Daisy to drive them home when she got off. They laid out in the back of the Duke's pickup that Daisy had driven to work, staring up at the stars.

"Best first date ever" she said happily.

"Yeah?" Bo asked stifling a yawn.

"Kissed at sunset in a field of cotton, went dancing, and now we're watching the stars together" she turned on her side and looked over at him, surprised to find him looking at her instead of the stars. He raised his head up a bit and captured her lips in a kiss. She was like some exotic drug, the more he was around her and got to touch and kiss her, the more that that was all that he wanted to do. She smiled in the kiss, returning it as she stroked his cheek with her fingertips. She was surprised how easy it was to trust Bo and how quickly she'd fallen back into her old feelings. It all felt right, like a pair of well-worn and much loved blue jeans. He put an arm around her, helping her to be comfortable as they separated and she snuggled up on his chest. They fell asleep in the truck bed waiting for Daisy to get done with work. When she came out and closed the tailgate and drove them back to the Duke's farm and woke Bo up. He carried Scarlett inside, laying down on the couch and letting her curl up on his chest rather than separating and going to his own soft bed to sleep and leaving her on the sofa.

When Jesse woke up at dawn to feed the chickens he walked past the couch and did a double take. Bo was sleeping peaceful as an angel with a strawberry blonde beauty resting just as contentedly with his nephew's arm around her in her fancy dress, her shoes neatly placed at the end of the couch on the floor along with her pearl necklace, courtesy of Beauregard Duke. Jesse smiled and walked outside feeling that maybe all hope of the Duke family name being continued in an honorable fashion wasn't completely gone with the wind.


	10. My Best

Scarlett went to the school to talk with them about her beginning a Drama program at Hazzard High. The school board told her that they would bring it up in the upcoming meeting and if not in the fall they might be able to start one in the spring if they approved it. Scarlett felt good about it except for the fact that half the parents on the school board were fathers to daughters who Bo had romanced. Of course she felt having been their school-mate for all but two years of school kind of made up for Bo's careless heartbreaking ways. She somehow found herself not worrying about that when it came to herself. She felt that they were too good together to ever have anything go wrong. They were best friends plus kissing.

Fall began and the drama program was approved for a trial period in the late fall and early spring. Scarlett drove out to the Duke's as soon as she got the news, jumping out of the Nova. She ran up to Bo in the chicken coup.

"What's up sunshine?" he asked seeing her broad smile.

"They said yes" she said grinning.

"Who?" he asked, a bit hazy and confused from their wild night out at the Boar's Nest the previous evening.

"The school board, come November Hazzard will have a trial drama class" she said smiling.

"That's great" he said throwing the feed bucket to the side "this calls for a celebration, let me get the keys" he said going inside and grabbing the General's keys. "Uncle Jesse" he shouted to the living room "I'll be back later, Scarlett got the go ahead for the drama program so we're gonna go celebrate" he said as he flew out the front door. They drove down the backroads and back around, he smiled listening to her talk about her plans. He was glad that her dreams were coming true, and also that it meant she'd be staying in town. He hardly noticed that he had been with her for going on three months now and not given a thought calling it off. Maybe it was because he was still waiting for her to let him take her all the way or maybe because it was real, if you had asked him he wouldn't have been able to tell you for all the money in Hazzard. He had never been in a relationship that was real, not that he could recollect after all the fast and careless love affairs that he'd raced through since his sophmore year of high school.

They went back and got dinner with her grandma.

"Wanna help me feed the chickens and Charlston?" she asked as she cleaned up the dishes, watching the sun lower toward the horizon. "It's cooling off so it will be bearable outside now" she said smiling. He dried the last of the dishes and went out to the barn to help her with the livestock. He found her in the hayloft, struggling to get a bail down for Charlston, her uncle's plowhorse.

"Sunshine" he said in a scolding voice "what are you doing?" he said scooting her to the side. "I was coming out here" he said, reaching for the bail.

"I know, it's not like I don't do it when you're not around" she said.

"Well then I hope I'm always around when you need me from now on" he said not realizing that despite the serious weight of those words they were still true. She smiled and stood on top of the bail wrapping her arms around him and kissing him softly. He wrapped his arms around her and gently laid her down on the bail kissing her. He looked down at her, brushing her hair out of her face "I love you" he said returning his lips to hers before she could say anything in return. Her lips said it all though. Her fingers tangling in his shaggy blond hair as she held her body close to his. She rolled them off the bail so she was on top, his back on the floor of the hayloft. He chuckled and ran his hand up the back of her shirt feeling her soft skin absorbing all the beauty of seeing her skin with his fingertips as they kissed.

A little while later in the inside of the house Uncle Jonah turned to grandma, "They've been out there for a while, you think they're okay?" he asked, concerned for his niece.

"Jonah, they're young and in love, of course they're fine."

"So I shouldn't go out and check on them?"

"I wouldn't recommend it, in fact I think staying here is the best thing we could do" she said smiling. She'd bet her bottom dollar and her secret stash of moonshine that they had been out rolling around in the hayloft the whole time and she may not approve but she remembered being young and having Cary Amthor take her out on moonlit drives in his family's truck and romancing her under the Georgia stars. She knew if Bo Duke was ever going to settle down and be serious about a girl, it was her grand-daughter.

The sun had slipped behind the hills when Bo and Scarlett came back in the house, hay stuck in both of theirs hair and their hair very messed up. Their faces were a bit red but they couldn't stop smiling at each other and Bo couldn't bring himself to let go of her hand.

"Bo, you gotta go home, I won't have you keepin' my grand-daughter up talkin' all night, she has had a long day" Mrs Amthor said shooing him out the door.

"Bye Bo" Scarlett said smiling standing just inside the door. Her soft and warm smile gave him chills. His feelings certainly hadn't gone away since they'd went all the way, if anything they were ten times stronger. It shocked him he could still feel like this. He knew that when not abused, as he had done, intimacy with another person was supposed to make the relationship stronger, and that's just what had happened for him and Scarlett. He could not stop thinking about her the whole drive home.

When he got out and came inside Uncle Jesse just looked at him and laughed.

"What?" he asked curiously.

"Nice shirt" Luke teased.

Bo looked down, he had Scarlett's red button-down work shirt buttoned by one button over his chest. Which meant that he had been wearing it that way in front of her family too, and that she had his shirt on. He put his forehead in his palm shaking his head. Luke and Daisy just kept on laughing.

The days turned chillier and the Hazzard football team started playing their games. Scarlett showed up at every single one, driving out of town for the Varsity's game and watching JV play whenever they were home. Bo went with her most of the time, surprised about how much she knew about a 'man's sport'. The people of Hazzard became quite accustomed to seeing Scarlett all bundled up for the cold and Bo holding her close. Some people grumbled because she was going to be a teacher, and Boss tried to stir up trouble, but Bo had been so distracted with his new found love that he had failed to notice some of Boss' underhanded schemes that he had been putting into effect.

Bo had also been coming to church more, his eyes glued to the strawberry blonde in the choir. He was beginning to scare himself with the fact there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her, well anything short of letting her drive the General Lee, but that was for her safety.

One day in November Bo found Uncle Jesse on the back porch fixing a post that had some wood-rot.

"Uncle Jesse" he said, his hands stuffed into his pockets nervously. His uncle nodded. "I'm thinkin' about goin' to Atlanta soon, you got anything you need?"

Jesse thought "not that I can think of right now Bo" he said. "You takin' Luke with you?"

"No" he said.

"Scarlett then?"

"No" he said even more emphatically then he had responded to the question about Luke.

"Oh" Jesse said "oh!" he repeated his eyes widening. "You thinkin' about buyin' something for Scarlett?"

Bo mumbled a yes and looked away. Jesse just chuckled. "I'll be prayin' she says yes" Jesse said and walked away.

"Uncle Jesse! that wasn't... I'm not, I mean, no" but he was already back in the house "well maybe" he said to himself.


	11. Let A Country Boy Love You

Scarlett put herself into the drama program, she was doing a play with the high school kids. Asking them which one act they'd like to do in the spring, and finding out who would be willing to help make props and the like. She was planning a bake sale and raffle to fundraise for equipment for it. Bo could see that despite how much she was enjoying herself she was becoming very stressed and needed a break. He pulled up in front of the school as soon as it was out and came in.

"Hey kiddos" he said coming into the gymnasium where Scarlett was planning the stage with some of the students.

"Hey Bo" most of them said, a couple shy high school girls sighing as he walked past.

"Y'all don't mind if I steal your teacher so y'all can go home early?" he asked grinning.

"Can we?" they asked Scarlett.

She smiled "alright, just this once" she said and they left. "What is it that you want Bo?" she asked "and why couldn't it wait until after I was done?"

"Because you're stressed and need a good drive down in the country and to get away from all this for a bit" he said.

"You don't understand" she said shaking her head "I have to do this."

"Why?" he asked "what about us?" He sighed "I never see you anymore, what are you trying to prove by killing yourself?" he said turning away.

"I want to fix things" she said.

"By breaking us?" he retorted.

"It's not like you are gonna show up with a ring or something Bo Duke. You may love you, but when were you ever serious enough to propose to a girl, so what am I supposed to do with my life when you decide you're done with me? I let a man become my life once before and I fell flat on my face with no hope to look for when it fell apart. I want to educate kids, and I want to have a life for when you move on and leave me behind" she explained.

"Is that really what you think of me?" he said turning back around to her. "That just because I've loved my way through this county that I could never get serious about a girl, not even one like you? Well you may not have noticed but I'm not some shallow city slicker, and I ain't sayin' this is forever, I ain't God but I do know that until now I never saw anything ever coming between us." He shook his head "I've spent my time on you, too caught up in lovin' you to even bother chasin' Boss Hogg for fear he might try and mess up your dreams, and all this time your dreams were just a backup plan because you didn't think I could stay true to you" he said hotly.

She stared at him, he so seldom got upset, at least at her. "That ain't the only reason I'm doing this" she answered "I want to teach, I want kids in Hazzard to get some more exposure to the arts, it wasn't all about you" she replied intensely.

"Is something wrong?" one of the teachers said popping their head into the gym.

"No" she replied and the teacher disappeared.

"Can't you just be happy with me? I'll help you build the stuff for your play, I'll do anything for you, but I won't live with your fear of me leaving you between us. You mean more than that to me dammit" he said heatedly.

"Oh Bo" she said hugging him "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've been hurt and I don't want to go through it again" she said sobbing.

He stroked her hair "well it's a good thing this time you picked a good ole country boy to love, because we have honor and don't hurt our women, not intentionally at least, I ain' gonna say I won't ever make a mistake or make you cry or do something thoughtless, but I'll try my best not to. Can you try to love me without bein' scared though?" he asked.

She nodded "Good!" he said smiling "now stop your cryin'" he said brushing the tears off of her cheeks. She smiled. "Now let's go for a ride" he said taking her hand and helping her in the General. They went for a drive that ended with them in the backseat of the General and the windows all fogged up.

As Bo held her, covered in cold sweat, as she breathed softly, he knew that he couldn't live without her. She meant all the world to him. He needed her to see that he wasn't going to be going anywhere if he could help it.

"I love you" he said softly, playing with her strawberry blonde curls.

"I love you too, Bo" she said smiling and giving him a kiss.

They stayed out all night, going to the Duke's farm for breakfast.

From then on Bo was at the school a couple times a week, helping Scarlett get things ready for the bake sale and raffle, and using what they had to create a stage and props. One morning he came in with a life-like tree he had carved up for her out of old two-by-fours and logs from the scraps out on the farm. She got paint and painted it while Bo went and got Luke to put up tables for the Holiday Raffle and Bake Sale that was that Saturday.

The sale went well, and with the lull that came after the sale was filled with Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities. But all the while there was a nagging itch that Bo had that he couldn't quite figure out. He needed to find a way to really show Scarlett how much she meant to him. Maybe it was time he finally made that much delayed trip to Atlanta.


	12. Never

Bo got up a few days after his trip to Atlanta, Scarlett was still in Texas visiting her family, he found Luke picking up the laundry they had managed to carpet the floor of their room with over the past week.

"Daisy's doin' laundry today, you got any hid somewhere or is it all just out here in the open on the floor?"

Bo yawned "I think that's it" he said blocking a pillow as Luke chucked one at him, it ricocheted off the headboard sending Bo's cigar box of stuff tumbling to the floor. He sprang out of bed in his underwear, picking the stuff up quickly.

Luke just grinned as he picked up a small red velvet box. "I wonder what could be in here?" he teased.

"Give it here" Bo said heatedly.

"So that's why you went off to Atlanta all secret-like" Luke teased tossing the little box back to Bo, who put it back in the cigar box and closed the lid.

"Ain' none of your business" Bo said blushing.

"I think it is a bit at least, I mean I'll be getting the room all to myself, so I'm all for it" he said "and I won't have to pick up your dirty underwear off the floor anymore" he said chucking a pair at his cousin.

"Thanks, I feel the love" he said whacking his cousin with a pair of jeans.

"No, but you really love her that much?" Luke asked "you're not just doing this because it's what people do? or because Uncle Jesse's talks about carrying on the Duke name have finally gotten to ya?"

Bo shook his head "I don't want anyone beside her, and I would die if anyone else took her, I want to be old on a front porch with her there, and if we have kids that's great, and if it's just us two, that's also fine, just so long as she's around" he said blushing a bit.

"Yep, you're serious!" Luke said laughing and giving his cousin a bear-hug. "Congrats."

"I ain't gotten a yes yet" he said putting his jeans and shirt on.

Bo spent all the next few weeks trying really hard to figure out how to go about it, and waiting for her to get back to Hazzard. He wanted something special, something that would really get her. He wanted to write it on the water-tower or have a plane spell it out in the sky or cut trees so they spelled out, he'd risk arrest to interupt a news show to get the chance to ask her in some big way. He thought about plowing out the words in the middle of the field, but that just seemed too country. Maybe he could take her to Atlanta for a concert. But he was broke, and what money he did have he was trying to save for a little plot of land that used to be part of the Duke's farm back about a 100 years, and was just a mile down the road from the farm. He could get a trailer or save for a house to build out there, but he was thinking about settling down, which was further than he had ever gotten before.

Bo drove up to Atlanta on Friday to pick her up from the airport, he had her Christmas present all wrapped up. The ring was still in the cigar box, he was waiting for the right moment, he still hadn't gotten it planned out. He was still trying to think of a good place and time. He parked and went inside to wait for her. She came out from the terminal in jeans and a tight long sleeve shirt covered by a plaid overshirt. She was his all-american beauty and he rushed up to her and picked her up off the floor and kissed her, unable to resist.

She chuckled, smiling up at him "did you miss me?" she teased as they walked over to the baggage carousel.

"How could I not?" he said his hand lightly touching her back, he didn't want to break contact with her, he had missed her pressence, her touch, her voice, everything really. He broke away so he could grab her bags, carrying them out to the General for her. He helped her in and then got in, sitting down in the driver's seat.

"You want to get some food or just go straight home to Hazzard?" he asked.

"Hazzard" she answered, sliding over and sitting cuddled next to him.

"Hey, I almost forgot" he said reaching inside his Carhart for a little poorly but personally wrapped parcel. "Merry Christmas" he said pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Thanks" she said "do you want me to open it now?"

"Sure Sunshine" he said smiling with his hand resting lightly on her knee.

She pulled the tissue paper aside and found a bracelet with green stones, she didn't know what kind they were, they weren't what was considered precious but she loved how they looked. She put it on her wrist, struggling with the clasp. Bo reached over and got it for her, smiling and keeping hold of her hand.

"You like it?" he asked a bit shyly. He knew she was used to much fancier things, but it was all he could offer her. He was just a poor good ole boy.

"Bo" she said and she leaned over and put her lips to his "I adore it" she said giving him another brief kiss.

"Hey, you wanna take the long way home?" he asked his heart thundering in his ears and his mind wholly focused on her.

She chuckled and put her hand softly on his leg as he started the car "I think that's a good idea" she said. She had missed his smell, his touch, the taste of his lips. She loved her dad but her heart was here though, in Hazzard with Bo Duke. After they got back in Hazzard Bo pulled off onto a backroad and drove down to the creek. The two of them ending tangled up in the backseat of the General.

It was almost nine o'clock by the time Bo got her home. He parked in the driveway to her grandma's house and walked her to the porch.

"Goodnight" he said, his hands resting on her hips. He wanted to ask her then and there, he really didn't want to wait any longer, but he wanted to make it special for her.

"G'night Bo" she said, leaning up and putting her lips on his, kissing him hard. She loved him to death. She wished that they could live together, get married, have children. She had finally found a man that loved her for who she was. He returned the kiss, backing her up against the porch post and kissing her passionately. He wanted to just pick her up and take her back out in the country and into the backseat again but he was sure her family was worried already.

They heard the door squeak and separated quickly, Scarlett trying to neaten her hair and make it look like nothing had been happening.

"So you're the reason she's so late getting back" her grandma said poking Bo in the side with her bony finger. Mrs Amthor chuckled, ushering Scarlett inside. "Come on in Beauregard" she said. Bo came in and closed the door behind. "I made dinner, it's gotten cold" she said throwing a look back at Bo and Scarlett, who both blushed "but if you put it on the stove it will be good. Your uncle already went to bed" she said as Scarlett put the food on the stove. "I think I may do the same, can I trust you two to behave? at least for the night?" she teased, kissing Scarlett's cheek.

"We'll do our best" Bo promised, helping her up the first step on the stairs. She smiled and kissed her future grandson-in-laws cheek. She knew, with that innate wisdom of age, that a proposal was going to be coming from Bo Duke directed at her grand-daughter, some time in the next few weeks more than likely. Bo and Scarlett ate supper and then he got up to go home. An idea forming in his mind of what he could do.

"See ya Bo" she said as he went to the door.

"See you later Scarlett" he said grinning and swaggering out the door. He drove home planning out how he would go about getting her to come without arousing her suspicions .


	13. Who Knew

Scarlett got back into the swing of things quicker than she had expected. Starting a drama program at Hazzard High was going well. Some of the kids were really interested in it, others just did it for something to do. She had been back for a week or so, and everyday she and Bo saw each other, and if they didn't they talked on the phone until the late hours of the night. Bo was still plotting the perfect proposal. He had an idea in his mind.

He came by on her lunch break one day "Sunshine" he said casually "you wanna go to the big race this weekend?" he asked.

"I was already planning on it" she said smiling over her sandwich. "I mean I wouldn't be much of a girlfriend if I didn't come to your biggest race so far this year."

"You do realize that it's still January right?" he asked grinning sarcastically.

"Hush!" she said shoving a spoon of food in his mouth to keep him quiet while she grinned cockily. He shook his head and poked her side, making her bat his hand away. They laughed, his arm around her as they sat side by side eating lunch.

Saturday came and Scarlett put on a pretty blouse and nice jeans that hugged her figure. She loved that she looked so good that Bo could show her off. She smiled, fixing her hair in a headband and then putting a little '01' on her cheek with some black face paint she had left over from football season. She smiled, popped her lips to make sure her lipstick was on straight. She rode with the boys rather than drive Texas Tornado. Sitting between her best guy friend and her boyfriend was honestly her favorite spot on earth. She could snuggle with Bo while she sassed Luke.

They showed up to the race and while they got ready Scarlett wandered around. It was something of a festival plus car race. She got some cotton candy and went back to the boys.

"That looks good" Bo said smiling at her, taking a bite of her spool of cotton candy. She shook her head, taking some, but Luke bumped her elbow on purpose and it smushed into her face.

"Lucas Duke!" she shouted, wiping her face.

"You missed a spot" Bo said pulling her to him and kissing her, licking the residue off her lips.

"Really you two?"

"Hey, you're the one that shoved it in my face" Scarlett retorted.

Luke just shook his head. He knew those two were too much of a perfect match for it not to work out. She had the sense Bo lacked, and Bo was the soft-hearted fool who she'd protect from his own stupidity. Scarlett went out and sat in the stands with Daisy and Jesse. She watched the race with breathless anticipation. She knew that it would set the tone for the rest of the year if they won this race. She watched Bo race the General around the curves, flying over the obstacles, and blocking other cars. As someone who raced herself, she saw the beauty of his maneuvers. She flew out of her seat the moment the General Lee flew over the finish line finishing first. She cheered, wanting to get to Bo and congratulate him. But it was too late, the judges and others had already crowded him away. She watched him go, oh well, she'd catch him later. She smiled and went over to watch the music show that was about to open up. She had told Bo she'd meet him there before the race. She watched as the band came out and started tuning up. A person came on stage and whispered to the frontman who went off stage for a bit and then returned.

"We weren't going to have an opening act tonight, but it looks like we have a one song gig from a one man band. So ladies and gentlemen, I give you not just a good singer but a damn fine racer and tonight's champion, Bo Duke!" the crowd cheered. Some of the ones from Hazzard knew that Bo could sing, others figured it was worth giving the racer one song to prove he could sing before the real band played.

Bo nervously shuffled his feet as he got to the stage. This was why he like racing, he didn't have to see the faces of everyone staring. His mouth went a bit dry and he sat down on the little stool with his guitar, putting his trophy from the race to the side. He adjusted the mic up to his height.

He found Scarlett in the crowd, and from then on the nerves faded, she was all he needed to see to feel at home. He felt that it was one of the hundred times he'd played his guitar on the back porch of the house, with her, or just alone. He started strumming a slow song and smiled "this song is new, I wrote it for someone, and she's here tonight, so Scarlett, sunshine, this is all yours" he said and then the lyrics came

 _From the flatlands of Texas to the Georgia backroads_

 _from the city lights to the quiet streets_

 _and all the land in between_

 _there's been love and lovers_

 _but those streets ain't ever seen a love like the one we've begun_

 _All the distance between Texas and Georgia and all the way back again_

 _She's my Texas sweetheart, she brings the bluebonnets with her eyes_

 _the warm sunshine with her sweet smile_

 _and the hot beaches with the way she kisses_

 _and when she's in my arms she's my lone star._

 _From fast cars to slow dances and stolen kisses_

 _I ain't ever seen a girl look so good in so many places_

 _from the choir loft to the backseat of my car_

 _her strawberry blonde curls and blue eyes_

 _make me want this to go as far as_

 _All the distance between Texas and Georgia and all the way back again_

 _She's my Texas sweetheart, she brings the bluebonnets with her eyes_

 _the warm sunshine with her sweet smile_

 _and the hot beaches with the way she kisses_

 _and when she's in my arms she's my lone star._

 _My lone star, the only one I'm ever going to want to kiss._

 _The only one who'll be by my side when I'm ninety-five._

 _The only one I want to be my bride._

 _The girl who stole my heart and broke my pride._

 _My Lone Star._

 _All the distance between Texas and Georgia and all the way back again_

 _She's my Texas sweetheart, she brings the bluebonnets with her eyes_

 _the warm sunshine with her sweet smile_

 _and the hot beaches with the way she kisses_

 _and when she's in my arms she's my lone star._

 _My Georgia born, Texas girl. My Lone Star. Only girl in the world who I'll ever see this way._

 _My beautiful lone star._

 **[[PSA: I am no songwriter, so don't judge.]]**

His song ended in softly played notes and then he put the guitar aside.

"Scarlett, honey, can you come up here for a second" he asked, the stage hands helped her up on the stage. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was smiling, she wanted to take him in her arms and kiss him but she didn't want to do it on a stage in front of a huge crowd. "Scarlett Jean Summers" he said reaching in his jean pocket "I wanna ask you something" he said. Now he was nervous. "Would you" he started "will you marry me?" he blurted it out. It took her a second to realize what he had just said.

She threw her arms around him and kissed him "YES!" she exclaimed breaking away for a second. Bo put the ring on her finger and then picked her up in his arms and grinned. The crowd cheered loud as Bo Duke carried the real prize off the stage. One of the band members handed the trophy that Bo had forgotten on the stage to Scarlett because Bo, after all, had his arms full.

Bo carried her all the way to the General Lee and set her down on the hood, leaning down and kissing her softly. Too happy for words. Eventually Jesse and Luke made their way over with Daisy. She hugged Scarlett and then Bo, Luke teased Scarlett about whether or not she was sure what she was getting into. Jesse just smiled. One of his boys had finally realized that settling down was not as bad as they had thought. Though the fact that it was Bo was the real surprise, everyone who had known him since sixteen could have sworn he'd be the last man in Hazzard to willingly get married. Luke made the politic decision and decided to ride home with Jesse and Daisy in the pickup, leaving Bo and Scarlett to be alone in the General.


	14. Don't It Make You Wanna Dance?

After driving out for a little alone time by the creek under the stars Bo and Scarlett decided to hit the Boar's nest for some food and booze and to wrap the night up with some dancing. The General roared into the Boar's Nest parking lot and Bo got out and picked Scarlett up in his arms, carrying her in the door, the two of them laughing like young lovers. The entire joint burst into applause making both of them blush red as Bo set her down.

They sat down, the meal being put on the great tab in the sky that went to all the times that they decided somebody deserved a reward. The noise brought Boss Hogg forth from his lair and he walked up to Bo and Scarlett's table. The two of them prepared for the worst, silently reaching for each others hands under the table.

Boss looked from the Bo to Scarlett and back a couple times. "Congratulations Bo" he said nodding "maybe settling down will do you some good" he commented.

"Oh it will" Scarlett said smugly "but not how you think, doesn't matter if we're married and have twenty kids, I still want my man to do what he thinks is right. It's why I'm marrying him. So don't think this will make things any easier for you, it just means now Bo has money and good looks backing up. Along with another hotheaded hellion in a fast car" she said grinning. Boss just shuddered a bit and walked away.

"Less hellion and more like hell in high heels" one of the boys at the bar shouted. Everyone laughed.

"Damn right" Bo said proudly, pulling her close to him and kissing the top of her head. Daisy and Luke came in and sat down at the couple's table. The waitress brought them their drinks. Scarlett had her bourbon and coke but she kept stealing sips from Bo's beer. He kept taking swigs and moving it further and further to the opposite side of where she was. She climbed in his lap and reached for it, taking it with an impish grin and finishing the bottle off.

"Really?" he said raising an eyebrow at her.

"Really" she said smiling at him.

"Well at least it got you in my lap" he said grinning. "You mind getting another beer for us Luke?" he asked his cousin.

"Only because I'm getting one too" Luke said getting up.

Cooter came in letting out a rebel yell as he went over, pulled Scarlett into a hug and then Bo.

"Congratulations you two!" he exclaimed, slapping Bo on the back.

"Thanks"

"So when is the wedding?" Cooter asked.

"Cooter! we ain't even been engaged for a day" Bo was protesting.

"In the summer" she said.

"Really?" Bo asked, surprised that she already had an answer.

"Yeah. We always do best during summertime" she said smiling, leaning into his shoulder.

"Dance with me" he said pulling her out onto the floor, spinning her around. They slid across the dance floor. He spun her out and pulled her close to him, their bodies moving in unison to the music as he led her all over the hardwood.

A couple local girls from Hazzard were glaring darts at Scarlett in her tight jeans, tightly wrapped up in Bo Duke's arms. Luke smelt trouble that Bo was too lost in love to see. So intervening he walked over and asked the most peeved looking one to dance. She was about to refuse but Luke dropped some heavy compliments on her and she caved. He spun her around the floor, showing he could dance almost as well as his cousin. After a couple dances with one girl he moved on to one of the others and just rotated between the three most hostile females in the place, buying them drinks and twirling them around the hardwood.

Bo spun her around his back and slid her to the floor and she went under his legs and he reached behind him and pulled her to her feet, spinning her to the front, picking her up and swinging her legs to the left of his waist and then to the right and then doing the candlestick with her. He set her down and fell perfectly back into shuffling his feet to the music and leaning down and giving her a kiss. She smiled.

A nice slow number was put on in their honor and Bo pulled her a little closer. She could hear his heartbeat and he could hear her soft breathing. He contentedly closed his eyes. Happier than he could ever dream of putting into words. He knew down to the depths of his soul that he had made the right choice. That come hell or high water she'd be the one for him and he'd never want any other.

As Scarlett took a trip to the 'little girls room' as Daisy would call it, he went back out to the General and got his guitar. He sat up on the bar and started strumming, playing song after song as Scarlett sat on a barstool right by him. At last closing time was called and a very tired Bo and Scarlett went out to the car to drive home. The farm was closer so they parked in the yard, going quietly into the house and settling onto the couch together, too in love to want to separate just this soon.

When Jesse came downstairs in the middle of the night for a glass of milk he saw the two of them asleep on the too-small couch, huddling close to each other in their slumbers for warmth. He got a big wool blanket out of the closet to put on them. Luke came in, after having a fun moonlight ride with one of the girls from the bar.

"Shh!" Jesse said as the door opened. Luke nodded and shut the door softly, cringing at the creak.

"You're the last one in, help me get these two to an actualy bed. Yours will do for Bo and she can have his. You can have the couch this once" he said. They picked Scarlett up gently, carrying her to the bed. They didn't need to wake Bo or try to carry him, in the time it took them to get Scarlett upstairs Bo woke up from the empty feeling in his arms.

He looked around, sitting up, as his cousin and uncle came downstairs.

"We carried her up to bed, we were gonna do the same with you" Jesse said.

"Thanks" he said getting to his feet.

"I'll take the couch tonight" he said.

"Nah, you don't have to, just don't sleep in the buff like you tend to and we should be good" he said making his way drowsily upstairs and sliding in the same bed as Scarlett, wrapping his arm around her waist and falling back to sleep immediately. Luke suppressed a chuckle, simply taking off his shirt and sleeping in his jeans in his own bed. He wondered if one day he'd be able to quit his bachelor ways and fall for a girl hard enough to want to marry her as bad as Bo wanted to make Scarlett his bride. He took a little longer than his cousin to fall asleep that night. Maybe someday, but not any time soon.

The two woke up to breakfast in bed delivered by Daisy. Luke had long since been out of bed and starting on the morning chores. They had overslept going to church. Everyone at the church understood without saying anything that Scarlett had good excuse to not be in church. After all, it could be overlooked given that she and Bo had been one of the last groups to leave the Boar's Nest and she had just gotten engaged. The Good Lord and the folks of Hazzard could forgive her sleeping in.

They spent the day talking over their wedding plans and where they might live. Bo wasn't keen on moving in with her and her grandma and she didn't want to crowd Luke and Daisy, but she figured she had enough money to help buy some land. Bo wasn't crazy about her paying for it, but it did seem to be the only way. He had put all his prize money from the race the night before into his bank account and was thinking of selling some of the spare cars to Cooter, splitting the money with Luke of course. He hoped by the time July came, because they had decided on a July wedding, that he would have enough to buy some land and maybe start on a house. Dusk fell and Bo drove her home.

He got on the phone at her grandmother's house while she gave them the good news. He waited nervously for her father to answer the phone.

"Mr Summers" he said in his southern accent.

"Bo" he said in a friendly tone. "How are you?"

"Good."

"Everything okay with Scarlett, she's fine right?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's right here" he said holding the receiver away from him.

"Hi daddy!" she shouted and then Bo put the phone back to his ear.

"She's fine" her dad said chuckling "so what is it you felt the need to call me about?" he asked, he had a sneaking feeling what was coming.

"Well, sir, I was wondering. Really hoping, could I please, can I marry Scarlett?" he asked, the words finally coming out.

There was a moment of silence in which Bo felt his heart stop.

"Of course you can Bo" he said chuckling "not like me saying no would stop her anyways."

They talked for another hour and then Jonah and grandma threw a celebration with some secret stashes of moonshine and playing dominos into the wee hours of the morning. Bo ended up spending the night, supposedly on the couch. That's where he had started out, but when Jonah came down for a drink of water, there was no Bo Duke on the couch but the General was still parked out front.


	15. Goodnight Moon

Spring started to come, the days stopped being cold, clouded, and short and lengthened slowly, each day dawning warmer and full of more life. All of Hazzard eagerly awaited the wedding of Bo Duke and Scarlett Summers. Most young people tried to leave Hazzard as quick as they could, or if they didn't they married in high school so a wedding was something to look forward to for the whole county, especially when you were small town famous like Bo and his cousin were.

Scarlett's position as drama teacher was pretty secure, the class being a success so far and the fact she had hosted one of the biggest school-related fundraisers ever. They had even given her a classroom to meet in rather than do everything in the gymnasium.

Shortly after getting the room she made a trip to Atlanta to get fitted and buy stuff in order to decorate her classroom. Scarlett hummed happily as she stood on top a chair, pinning up the border on the walls. She didn't hear the door open but she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist and pull her off the chair and spin her around. She giggled.

"Bo!" she squealed.

"Hey there" he said stealing a kiss. She smiled. "Need any help?"

"Sure" she said as he reached up and pinned the edging up for her. She giggled "having you around is going to be handy, I won't need ladders anymore" she teased.

"I'm good for much more" he said giving her a wink.

"Don't I know it" she said grinning and getting on top the chair and stealing a long slow kiss, and then stealing his heart, slipping out from in his arms.

Bo shook his head, if it wasn't for the fact kids might still be around the school he'd chase her down and kiss her senseless on that cluttered desk of hers.

"You going to be able to make it to the Thursday night race, I know you have school the next day" Bo said.

"Of course, I may be half-alive come Friday morning but I'll be there" she said smiling. He laughed, finishing putting up the edger and then picking her up and carrying her out to the car. They drove out to the lake, sitting out on a blanket that Bo has packed just for the occasion. She curled into his side as he leaned back on his arms.

"If I win this race I'll have enough money for the down payment on the land" Bo said happily.

"That's wonderful" Scarlett said kissing him in delight.

"I never thought I'd be doing this" Bo said shaking his head.

"What? marrying a hot-headed strawberry blonde" she said laughing.

"No, marrying anyone, at all, ever" he admitted "but I'm glad I am. I love you Scarlett Jean" he said pressing a kiss into her hair. "Ain't nothin' gonna change that. ever" he added pulling her closer as the sun began to set.

She smiled, settling into his arms as they watched the sun go down. She couldn't wait for July. She wanted to be his in name as much as she was in deed and word.

"Scarlett Jean Duke?" she said, not realizing the words had come out, she had just been thinking over what her name would sound like it.

"I like it" Bo said pulling her hair back behind her shoulder and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "I love it in fact" he smiled giving her another kiss.

"I do too" she said squirming down and laying her head in his lap. He started playing with her hair, he loved touching her, and loved the way her hair looked like fiery gold in the dying light of the sunset. "So Bo" she said thinking aloud again "how many kids do you want to have?"

Bo was silent, he had always sworn that he disliked children, but hanging around the school with Scarlett had changed his antipathy to a neutral feeling. And the idea of having kids with Scarlett seemed appealing, he knew if anyone could raise kids to not be brats but still have spunk it'd be a woman like her.

"As many as you want darlin'" he said picking her hand up and kissing it. She giggled.

"I guess we'll just wait and see how many the good Lord thinks is a nice number" she smiled up at him "that's good enough for me" she said.

"Me too" he replied, pulling her up in his arms and kissing her.

The Thursday night race came and the day was hot, hot enough for Scarlett to pull her shorts out of the chest of summer clothes that had been put up since late September. She watched as the cars got ready. Daisy had work so she had just went with Uncle Jesse to watch the boys. Scarlett gave Bo a good luck kiss and then found Jesse in the stands and went to sit with him and watch. The cars revved and started off, the General speeding off, looking good from the start. She cheered as it took one of the jumps perfectly. She wished she had been racing that night, it was perfect. She turned to Jesse to make a comment but the old man could see it coming from up in the stands. In the mix of cars, as if in slow motion for Jesse Duke, he saw a car come off the jump and collide into the side of the General Lee. Scarlett heard the screech of metal and the sound of glass cracking and the look on Jesse's face. She went pale and then without thinking launched herself out of the stands, rushing to where the emergency team was pulling the two wrecked cars off the track. She ran out headlong to the green turf in the middle of the track as they pulled an unconscious Luke out of the car. His forehead was a little bloodied but it was Bo who was a messy site, his legs had been crushed in the wreck, no one was quite sure how, he had been driving and Luke had been on the passenger side.

Scarlett went up to him, the emergency crew trying to keep her back, but she wouldn't be stopped.

"Bo" she screamed, her heart sick when his body was carried into site, somehow he was still vaguely conscious.

"Luke" he moaned "Luke, is he okay?" he muttered. Scarlett came up to his side. "Is Luke okay?" he asked.

"He's alright, he's unconscious and a bit bloody, but a lot better off than you" said one of the EMS workers. "What did you do? you were on the least damaged side of the car?"

"Is now a good time to be asking him specifics?" Scarlett said scowling at the EMS guy.

Bo managed a smile "It's fine sunshine, and I'm glad it worked, I figured if I threw as much as me in between Luke and the falling car, seeing as I couldn't steer us out of the way quick enough, that he'd be okay" he sighed from the strain of talking "trying to be a big damn hero" he said hoarsely "but at least it worked" he said fading towards unconsciousness.

"Shh" Scarlett said, seeing how much of a strain talking was for him. She put a kiss on his lips right as he fell into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

She and Jesse rode behind the ambulance. They decided that while Luke looked fine, he might have a concussion and needed to go to the hospital too. The driver of the car that had collided with the General was alright. He had a broke arm from the looks of it, but that seemed to be the extent of his injuries.

Jesse tried to be calm, and tried to keep Scarlett the same. He was worried sick and knew she was too. And she knew that he was worried and tried to hide her anxiety, but no matter how good of an actress she was, Jesse could see it. See it in how she pretended to read a magazine but her eyes were not only not moving across the page but were full of tears that wouldn't come because she willed them to stay off of her cheeks.

At last the doctor came out to them.

"You can go in and see Lucas, Beauregard is still in intensive" he said.

Scarlett snapped "It's Bo, and it's his cousin Luke" she said brushing past. If she couldn't see Bo she'd see Luke.

"Damn foolish kid!" Luke said as soon as he saw their familiar faces. "What was he thinking? He's the one getting married and he throws himself between me and a falling car" he fumed.

"He did potentially save your life" the nurse who had ridden from the race track in the ambulance with Luke softly chided.

"That's not the point, point is, I'm the older one, I should be putting him out of harm's way, not the other way around" he vented.

"Easy there Luke" Jesse gently warned "don't get too worked up. He'll be fine" he tried to reassure him. Scarlett had retreated during Luke's outburst and was letting silent tears of fretful worry fall to the floor. Luke looked over and saw the woman he regarded as his future sister-in-law with a fallen expression and could almost swear he saw the tears, and that calmed him down more than anything. She didn't need his ranting and raving about how dumb Bo had been when she was worrying years off her life sitting quietly in the chair in the corner of his room.

The nurse came in again, gave Luke some medicine, which he submissively took.

"You can go in to Bo now" she said gently. Scarlett sprang out of her chair. "He needs to sleep, so try not to excite him or anything" she warned in a kindly tone.

"She won't be able to help that" Luke teased.

"Hush! just because you're an invalid doesn't mean she won't try and kill you anyways" Jesse warned his nephew.

Scarlett went in to Bo's room. He was asleep. She pulled a chair up to his bedside and took his hand, laying her head down on the side of the bed and stroking his hand with her thumb.

When the doctor came in she was there.

"Will he be okay?" she asked.

The doctor's face fell slightly "he'll survive, but there is a chance that his legs may be broken so badly that he may not walk again, or only do it with the aid of a cane" he said sadly. "Are you a relative?" he asked.

"I'm his fiancee" she explained.

"Well, then this concerns you more than anyone else, because if you can keep him down and keep him off his legs until they're deemed healed enough to walk, then they may recover fully, but if he tries to push it and walk too soon, the chances of a full recovery will decrease" he explained.

Scarlett sighed "well, he may hate me for it, but I will keep him off those legs even if it means knocking him out every time he tries to stand" she said. She knew that keeping Bo off his feet was going to be about as easy as keeping a pack of lions off of a gazelle with nothing but a stick. It was pretty much impossible but she wanted to see him standing at the altar waiting for her, not on crutches all his life because of his own stupidity.

"If he does stay off his legs, how soon might he recover?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, could be as short as three months or it could take a year" he said shaking his head. "There are a lot of variables with an injury like this" he said. He looked at her "you should get some rest sweetheart" he said in a paternal tone.

"Alright" she replied, laying her head down on the side of Bo's bed and closing her eyes. She wasn't going anywhere until Bo woke up.


End file.
